Chapter 28-
"Could we go back to our room?" Ruby asked in reply.
Neo nodded her head in response as she held her and teleported themselves back to their room, sitting on the bed.
"Her cloak was bloodied and we found her ear." Ruby whispered to Neo after they had relaxed on the bed.
"She could still be alive; it doesn't prove that she's dead." Neo replied just as softly.
"We found a kill order with her name on it, it means she must be dead. It's only more proof that she is." Ruby cried out, tears falling down her face.
"Sweetie, its fine. Tell me what they told you as you were crossing." Neo asked, so Ruby told her what Maya and Atropos had said to her, everything which she could remember.
"If Atropos sent you back, why would she call this a present? Why wouldn't she just show the body?" Neo questioned, which Ruby didn't have the answer.
"The note was torn wasn't it?" Neo asked.
"It was. I couldn't see who ordered it except the letter S." Ruby answered.
"Could it have been a kill or capture order perhaps?" Neo asked.
"Maybe. But I saw her get stabbed." Ruby said, tears running down her face as she remembered.
"People have survived stab wounds before, maybe they captured her instead of killing her. Maybe that's why there were those things." Neo suggested.
"I don't know." Ruby replied honestly, just closing her eyes and burying her head into Neo's neck.
Whispering comforting words to Ruby, eventually the tired woman fell asleep in her arms while Neo remained wide awake, lost in thought.
Over the next few weeks leading up to the festival and the resulting fighting tournament that came with the festival. Ruby had been constantly going to physio for her legs, slowly building them up but she couldn't use her scythe to the same standard as before.
So instead she chose to focus on her other weapons as they planned to enter the tournament together. However, the major change that everyone was able to notice was Ruby's red cape was no longer on her shoulders but instead on Neo's.
Instead she wore her mother's white cloak instead, wearing it proudly once the hood was clear of blood and she kept the hood up constantly and the cloak wrapped tightly around her body.
More than once Mizu had to do a double take whenever she saw Ruby dressed like that as she reminded her so much of Summer.
Eventually the tournament came around with Ruby only training or at physio for her legs. Mizu was still working hard to discover what had gone wrong in Ruby's blood in an attempt to find out how it all happened.
Winter and the rest of WBY alongside all the other students who were training up for the tournament as their teams of four. But Ruby and Neo had obtained special permission, or rather had something special that allowed them to compete with only two of them.
During this time Ruby had spent time speaking with Evie and Naomi, learning that both served together before going on separate paths.
Evie went into stealth and intelligence gathering while Naomi went into aviation and combat flying, each going to separate Kingdoms, or at least that's what they said but Ruby suspected something else.
The weapons on Evie's wrists were of keen interest from Ruby and the woman allowed her to have two of her own, which she dismantled and put back together while improving them slightly at the same time with a stronger and lighter blade, and quicker reaction time with them.
In return Ruby had helped Evie with her throwing knives, giving her the same type that she used which were lighter and sharper, making them more deadly.
This was only one weapon that Ruby trained with, choosing instead to use her throwing knives as well because she wasn't too mobile but she was able to throw just as fast as before.
As the tournament came around Ruby saw that they were fighting the opening match against a team called NDGO. They were an all-female team from Shade Academy.
"Hello! It seems we have another astonishing bout ahead of us! Wouldn't you agree, Professor?" Port said into the microphone.
"Doctor. And yes Peter, I think it's safe to say this may be rather on sided one we've seen so far." Oobleck explained.
"For those of you just now joining us, welcome to the Vytal Festival Tournament, broadcast live from the Amity Colosseum." Port stated. "If this is your first time watching, allow us to break down the rules." Port said.
"The tournament is divided into three distinctive rounds; teams, doubles and singles. Age and school year are irrelevant! In this tournament, your only attribute being tested is skill." Oobleck explained.
"The winners of this battle will elect two of their members to represent them in the doubles round, followed by the winners of that round choosing one member to advance one again. The remaining combatants will then fight their way through the final bracket in hope of achieving victory for their kingdom!" Port finished explaining.
"And yes, Peter, these certainly are some spectacular bouts which to spectate on! I don't think anyone tuning in around the world is going to disagree with me on that!" Oobleck stated.
"Ah, and why wouldn't they? This duo will be the team to watch." Port told them all.
"Ah yes, now let's get to the match between team NDGO of Shade Academy from Vacuo and RN of Beacon Academy right here in Vale." Oobleck finished off.
Ruby and Neo stood opposite NDGO, waiting to see what the arena would be. The two women who suddenly transformed into a team of four, with three Neo's.
Neo was dressed in her normal outfit while Ruby had her headphones on hiding her ears, but otherwise kept her normal outfit with the leather jacket over the top.
All four of them bowed to their opponents with Neo saying, "Good luck."
"You too." The leader of NDGO, Nebula replied to them.
As the holographic roulette changed to show a sun Nebula let out a laugh saying, "Alright! Home field advantage."
Ruby and Neo remained silent as the other side changed into the sea with a pirate ship wreck comes up.
"3, 2, 1, BEGIN!" Oobleck called out.
Neo immediately changed towards the other team with her two clones coming with her, flipping over the back of them and running towards the sand area with two of them following close behind in chase.
While the other two, Nebula and Octavia remained facing Ruby. As said woman just remained standing there in front of them, not moving at all.
"Um, hello? Are you there?" Octavia asked, confused as to why the woman wasn't moving.
Up in the stands Winter and WBY alongside Mizu were all watching the fight with interest but all of them were confused as to why Ruby wasn't moving.
"Hello everyone." Aria said, appearing in a seat between Mizu and Winter.
"Hello Aria, how are you?" Mizu asked, not shocked at the AI's appearance.
"I am good thank you. Are you enjoying the match?" Aria asked.
"Well it's only just started. But Neo seems to be playing with them." Weiss pointed out, as Neo was jumping and dodging attacks from the two other members of NDGO with her clones.
"She is. It's rather fun to watch my mother's dance around them all." Aria said.
"But Ruby isn't moving, how is she dancing around them?" Yang asked.
"Oh. You can't see her?" Aria replied, surprised that they couldn't see her.
"Well we can all see her. She's just standing there though." Yang replied.
"But she isn't, is she Aria?" Blake asked, looking carefully at Ruby.
"You're right. Her semblance that you all know is her speed, but like Neo she has multiply. Look carefully, not at Ruby but instead at the two advancing on her." Aria said but the others failed to see it. "Just watch."
Nebula moved towards Ruby, deciding to just kick the unmoving girl out of the arena but as her foot made contact with Ruby's body she vanished into thousands of shattered pieces.
"What the?" Nebula exclaimed loudly but couldn't formulate a plan as her teammate, Octavia next to her was struck by an unseen foe as she flew out and hit the red zone.
"Your eyes deceive you. You do not see what is in front of you." Ruby said coldly behind Nebula as she threw her out of the arena as well.
"What the hell was that?" Yang asked, "She just appeared somewhere else."
"That's her other semblance. Shadow Step or Wraith Slip. She can move so fast that she slips out of time temporarily, I suppose it could be just the one semblance, just an advancement of hers. But combined with Neo's illusions than it means no one would ever realise what was happening." Aria stated.
With the fighting Neo was avoiding all the attacks being thrown at her by the last two opponents while Ruby seemed to appear behind them, wedging the two women between them.
While Gwen carried on throwing her knives towards Neo, Dew changed targets to try and stop Ruby but as she turned to face her she was met with a sword swinging towards her.
Raising her spear in time to parry the attack another one was quickly launched at her. Having been put on the defensive by the fast attacks she could only block them all and attempt to fight back but being so close made it hard.
During the attacks however Dew began to notice that some of them were sluggish and not having the amount of power that the way her opponent was moving would suggest they'd have.
As she came to this realisation the other woman smiled at her before jumping back and stopping her offensive.
Making her move Dew immediately went onto the offensive keeping a slight distance as her weapon prefers but making sure that Ruby wouldn't get close enough to attack again. But no matter how close she got it wouldn't matter as Ruby would just dodge the attack or block it.
Neo on the other hand was having fun with a wide smile as she dodged the knives being thrown at her before deciding that she had enough fun.
Drawing her own sword from her parasol she launched herself down, punching Gwen's shoulder to throw her off balance before slashing at her with her sword. The strike immediately taking her into the red zone of her aura and knocking her out of the competition.
Changing their final tactic Ruby and Neo both ended their fights in a series of strikes that knocked their opponents down in Aura until finally they were in the red.
"And that's it. The Miss Roses have won the match." Port called out.
"While not very surprising the fight went on much longer than some people guessed it would. And it seems Miss Ruby has displayed a new ability that we have not yet seen before." Oobleck carried on.
Ruby and Neo bowed to their opponents once more before leaving the Arena as they were interested to see the next match, who would be WWBY fighting against ABRN from Haven Academy.
The pair sat in the stands, with Neo sitting next to Mizu while Ruby was sitting on the other side of Neo as she avoided speaking with the woman.
The three of them watched the match, which went on much longer than the first match. During it however Winter displayed more of her abilities, like her duel swords and glyphs which were able to work in tandem with her sisters but it was clear that she had more practise with them.
After the match was over, Ruby had sent Aria over to ask winter to speak to them when she got a moment free to do so as the pair silently decided on a course of action.
"Mizu would you mind coming to our room as well please?" Neo asked kindly, to which Mizu readily accepted.
A/N
So I'm sorry that I've been rather slack with updating this story so my apologies once more. I've finished my next story after this, Not Alone and then I'm unsure.
I'm flicking between two stories, a Mass Effect crossover with RWBY or rather the ME story with some RWBY characters but I'm not sure but it's something I've always wanted to do.
Other one is a vastly different take on the RWBY story and everything but I'm not really sure about it but found that I enjoy writing or rather reading some of it but it's all up in the air.
Anyway I'll be posting another chapter soon so I hope you enjoyed.