A few days had passed since Neo's first day, and things went relatively the same, but with less stress and drama. It was strange… Neo almost felt as if her life was… normal. She had never had a 'normal' life.
"Ember, NO!"
"Ember, yes!"
Scratch that. Neo thought with amusement. How normal can your life be when one ties themselves to the hip of an individual with multiple personalities that are both crazy? Ember had swept the floor with her opponent in Goodwitch's class, and had stayed in control after. It seemed she and Reaper believed if control was handed back just yet, Reaper wouldn't be able to control herself, just like her old 'red hazes'.
So, here the gang was. Weiss had dragged them all into the library to study, and Blake almost immediately fell asleep. Ember's first instinct, of course, was to fuck with the sleeping faunus. Weiss had already confiscated all the scythe master's markers, and was now talking her down from stacking books on her girlfriend's head.
Ember, are you serious right now?
"Hell yeah, I'm serious!"
'Her sleeping head won't be able to handle the weight of the books.'Neo reminded her.
"Damn. Well, you got any ideas, Ice Cream Cup?"
Neo thought for a moment.
"How about we leave her alone and study?" Weiss suggested.
Ember stroked her chin. "Nah, that sounds boring. So how about it, Neo?"
'Oh! Have you seen those pictures online with the sleeping cats and the goldfish crackers?' Neo signed excitedly with a huge smile.
Ember's eyes went wide. "Oh, hell yes."
Ten minutes later, Blake Belladonna was absolutely covered in little yellow fish crackers. Weiss was in awe of just how many the fit on her, she could barely see the ninja. There was even a solitary goldfish on the point of one of her cat ears, which stuck straight up in her sleep. There was a flash and a shutter noise, and Weiss turned to see Ember with her scroll in hand. "This is awesome!"
"Would Team WBRN please report to the headmaster's office?"
The loudspeaker was loud enough to shock Blake awake, and the little crackers went flying everywhere. Well, apart from the few stuck in her hair. She was still in a daze when she looked to the ground. "Why are there goldfish everywhere?"
"No reason, kitty kat." Ember assured quickly. "Hey, Ozzy just called for us, we gotta go sleepy head."
Don't you think we should shift back for a meeting with Ozpin?
"Aw, can't I stay just a little longer?"
What? Why? You've never been concerned with staying in control…
"Don't worry, it won't be permanent… I just want more time topside…"
But why?
"Well… maybe… I just wanna mumble mumble mumble…"
Oh? What was that?
"You know what. We share this scrambled noggin, after all."
"Hey? Is everything okay?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine. Ozpin's office, right?"
"Um… Yeah… but will you or Reaper be attending?" Weiss asked nervously.
"Don't worry about me, Ice Queen. I'll behave, I promise. Neo here can always help keep me in line." Ember joked, throwing an arm around Neo.
Neo giggled and signed, 'I think we should get moving.'
"Neo's right." Blake pointed out. "Let's go."
"You've arrived." Ozpin said in greeting. The girls could tell the mood of the room was dire. Weiss immediately looked to Ember/Reaper.
"Hey," Ember defended, "We haven't been in trouble since that thing with Cardin and the forks. We've been behaving!"
"It's not about Reaper. A resident of Vale was taking out their trash when they came upon an alleyway. The scene they found was gruesome. The police arrived, cordoned the area, and opened a file, which was just sent to me." Ozpin turned on his monitor so WBRN could see the images.
The alleyway pictured was coated in red. Blood splattered the walls, and it was safe to assume the source was the body lying on the alley floor. The worst part was the wounds, at least to Reaper.
That looks like…
No…
"The wounds are consistent with Neo's umbrella." Ozpin confirmed.
Neo faced her lover with worry in her eyes, furiously shaking her head. No, it's not that, I swear!
"Neo doesn't even have that umbrella anymore!" Ember immediately defended. "She lost it months ago, when Creature took her!"
"I know, which is why we're speaking alone instead of with police." Ozpin nodded. "But it is hard… there is something else. A picture pulled from a security camera facing the alley's entrance." He pulled up the picture, which showed what looked very much like a blood covered Neopolitan exiting the alleyway in the dead of night.
Neo looked at the image in horror. The others stared at her in disbelief. Suddenly, she furiously began pointing at the screen.
"The timestamp…" Ember noticed. "Professor, this image is impossible!"
Neo sighed with relief, Weiss and Blake looked stunned, and Ozpin seemed to share Neo's relief. "Please, tell me how?" Ozpin begged.
"That's Monday night. Neo was up until the dawn with us. Trust us, she didn't get any sleep." Ember told him, recalling the night of Neo's first day with a loaded smile.
"Umm… I see… Can anyone corroborate?" Ozpin asked, looking to Weiss and Blake.
"Neo bought us dinner and a hotel room, so she and Reaper could have the dorm to themselves." Weiss admitted.
"That is unfortunate… I believe you, Neo." Ozpin assured. "But it will take more than the testimony of a convict to prove your innocence to the courts…"
"Fucking fuck… why do the police have a hate-on for us?" Ember lamented, looking to Neo.
"Is it enough to begin an investigation, or at least stall the prosecution?" Blake asked.
"Stall the police, perhaps. The other, I cannot promise." Ozpin admitted. "It is important you stay out of trouble, Neopolitan. Stick to your studies, and please don't leave Beacon."
Neo nodded. Ozpin had a look behind his eyes that Neo couldn't recognize.
When they got back to the dorm, Weiss and Blake left immediately. The mood within didn't lighten much, even when it was just Neo and Reaper (who had finally returned to the wheel, so to speak).
The smaller one was cuddled into the scythe master on their bed, trying to get past this debacle they were in. Who was that? That couldn't have been me…
'We need a distraction.' Neo signed. Reaper raised an eyebrow. 'No, not that. Not really the time…' Neo clarified, with a small amused smile. 'Is there anything you want to do or talk about? Do you still have the stuff to make your drink?'
Reaper nodded and stood up. A few moments later she returned with two glasses, and handed one to Neo. The scythe master decided to sit on the couch instead of back on the bed. "Neo, there is something I want to talk about, something thankfully off-topic."
Neo nodded to show she was listening.
"Ember… wants to spend more time topside. In control. See, she doesn't necessarily want to be in control, she just wants-… Ember, I'm going to have to say it if this is going to happen, so suck it up. Sorry… She wants to spend time with you as well."
Neo smiled. She had actually seen this coming at some point. Whatever we are, Ember feels it too. 'So what's the question?'Neo signed.
"I want to be sure you're okay with that, spending time with her." Reaper clarified. "She's… pretty insistent."
'Of course.' Neo signed. 'Would it surprise you to hear I kind of want to spend time with Ember?'
"What? Really?" Reaper asked.
She what?
'The way I see it,' Neo explained, 'you and Ember are two parts of a whole. You act like separate entities, but you are the same person. If this thing with us is going to work, I need to accept all of you, especially Ember. And I already have, a long time ago.'
"Same person…" Reaper thought to herself.
She does have a point.
Reaper smiled. "Weiss is going to have to adjust to seeing Ember more often."
Neo smiled and nodded.
Just then, Weiss and Blake re-entered the dorm. They were all set to head into Vale, and even had their weapons. "Get ready, you two." Weiss told them.
"About time!" Reaper said, standing up and putting on her cloak.
Neo looked between all of them in confusion.
"What, you think we would just sit here and wait? While one of our team mates is in danger? I wouldn't make a good team leader then, would I?" Weiss smirked.
Neo raised an eyebrow and simply pointed to herself.
"Weiss is warming up to you, even she can't deny it." Reaper explained. "You don't know Ozpin too well yet, but there was a look in his eyes at the end of our meeting. He knew we wouldn't stay put."
"I don't get the feeling the police are very willing to look beyond Neo anyways." Blake vented. "The local force seems to have something against the Rehabilitative Custody program."
"Or just us and Neo." Reaper suggested.
"No, I think at this point it's the program." Weiss told them. "Neo's case wasn't as high profile as yours."
'So, we're disobeying Ozpin and going straight out to investigate ourselves?' Neo asked.
"Yup! It's not like he thought we would just stay put." Reaper explained. "Are you not okay with it or something?"
Neo smiled. 'I was just asking. I'm itching to get to the bottom of this. Never thought I'd say, let's go catch a criminal!'
The first stop for the team was the police station. Weiss wanted to get her hands on her own copy of the file for them to work off of. As they sat in the coffee shop across the street, Neo became very unsettled. Not just the proximity to the cops, but the image she held in her hand. Someone, who looked exactly like her, covered in blood.
The others were looking through the rest of the file, looking for anything that may help. All they saw were pictures and documents that pointed to Neo and her umbrella, and the fact that she no longer possessed it was her only saving grace.
It was nearly an hour of staring at the same 17 pages before something caught Reaper's eye. "Neo, can I check that page?" Reaper glanced at the bottom of the paper. "Those bastards…" She said to herself, her eyes tinting.
Weiss caught the change. "What is it?"
Reaper took a deep breath, but it was Ember who stood up. "We have to talk to the police." She told them, storming out of the café. Weiss hurriedly followed Ember across the street, where the scythe master all but kicked in the door. She slammed the file on the counter. "I need to speak to the detective in charge of this case."
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but he is not going to accept..." The receptionist was terrified of seeing the advertised criminal up close.
"He tampered with this file. There's more evidence, and he's covering it up. Let. Me. Speak. To. Him."
"Covering evidence?" Someone off to the side spoke up. A tall man, short raven hair, and dressed in a black vest over a white shirt and dress pants, dropped his current task and walked up to Reaper. "How can you tell?"
"Are you him?" Ember accused.
"No, but I am one of the few friends you will find in this department, Reaper." He explained. "My name is Black. Please, talk to me."
Ember stalled. "Black? Are you an agent, too?"
"Detective, and you wouldn't believe the number of times that joke has run around, but it does say 'Black' on my birth certificate." Detective Black explained, obviously tired of the running gag. "If you think there is something wrong with this file, tell me, please."
"You actually want to help us?" Ember was reasonably suspicious.
"I believe in people, and in justice. A court of law saw you fit to prove yourself, and placed you back on this side of the law. I have seen nothing to suggest we are not allies, in that regard at least." Black told her.
"Been watching? Creeper." Ember joked.
Ember, we could use a friend in Vale's police.
"Yeah, Reaper, I got it… sigh… Alright, we could use the help, acquaintance. We'll see about ally later."
"Fair enough." Detective Black nodded. "What have you got?"
"Check this out. The numbers at the bottom, that show the page number? The order they were printed?"
The detective took the file and rooted through the pages. "The Neopolitan case… I don't like suspecting cops, but if there was a case one would alter here… One, two… seventeen… they're all here."
"Look closer." Ember told him.
So he did. And he did sense something was off. "…But I can't put my finger on just what…"
"The type." Ember clarified.
The detective's eyes widened. "The font is different… Pages one through twelve have the same font, but pages thirteen through seventeen have a different font."
"And if you look really closely, you can see little smudges…" Ember pointed out. "It looks like whoever put together the original file, whited out the pages, and replaced the numbers. Somehow."
"The man in charge of this case actually owns a typewriter… And the only reason to do that would be scan the papers back in… Make it look like the original file. To remove pages." The detective concluded. "Remove evidence. I hate the idea of cops bending the law, but I am sure you have noticed by now. The badges aren't very happy with Headmaster Ozpin's latest policy."
"I'm just glad someone is willing to help." Weiss spoke up, approaching Black. "My name is Weiss Schnee, I'm the leader of team WBRN at Beacon. Reaper is on that team, though at the moment I believe she is Ember."
Black shook the heiress's hand. "Ember? The alternate personality?"
"You wouldn't want to know what could happen if I wasn't around. Trust me, we're better off our meds."
"Well, I'll go confront the man in charge of Neopolitan's case. Civilians can't go beyond the counter, so I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to wait here. I'll be right back." Black gestured to the waiting chairs and walked off.
Ember reluctantly took a seat. Neo and Blake finally made it to the station after having to wait for the check at the café. "What's going on?" Blake asked her girlfriend.
"There might be more evidence that has been covered up." Weiss told her. Neo looked to Ember hopefully.
Ember nodded and Neo sighed in relief. She approached Ember and smiled. 'So, you want to spend time with me?' She signed.
"I mean, well…"
'don't worry.' Neo chuckled. 'your hard-ass bad-bitch status is safe.'
"Better be…" Ember whispered, before pulling Neo onto her lap.
"WHAT!" a deep voice sounded through the police station.
"But, sir!"
"DON'T 'BUT, SIR' ME, JACKASS! WHAT YOU DID IS ILLEGAL, NOT TO MENTON PETTY!"
The entire office fell silent. You could hear a pen drop. After a few moments, Black returned, accompanied by another young man in a nice suit, and an older man with a large mustache.
"You want to play schoolyard shit, son, you can be treated like a child about it." The older man told the younger newcomer.
"This is ridiculous…" he responded.
"Well, if you want to be treated as an adult, we can go straight to criminal charges? Obstructing justice?" The older man countered.
The other stiffened and turned to Neo. "I'm… sorry." He said, before hurrying away.
"What was that about?" Weiss asked Black after the older gentleman left as well.
"The older man was my boss, the chief here. The younger guy was the one in charge of your case. I stress, was." Black answered. "He did remove a page, Reaper. Just one, but it's enough to cast doubts of your friend's guilt. It's addressed to her by name."
"So who's in charge of the case now?" Weiss asked.
"You're looking at him." Black told her. "He was caught removing evidence. He wanted Neo to go down, he shares the office's popular opinion. 'Criminal's don't belong in uniform, and they certainly don't have a right to a huntsmen card.' The chief shares it too, which is why he got off easy. He should be arrested. To save face, Chief put me in charge. I'll get to the truth, Neopolitan." He turned to the multi-colored girl. "I promise."
"You said it was 'addressed' to her…" Ember pointed out. "What was?"
Black handed WBRN the missing photo from the file. "A message, written on the wall of the alley. In the victim's blood."
Neo stared at the message in total shock. She didn't know how to respond.
I will make you proud, Neopolitan. – M.