Prologue: Epiphany.

Burning. That was the feeling which overwhelmed her as soon as she returned to her senses. Burning from within. Like her lungs were on fire and her eyes were trying to douse the flames. A multicoloured hue of fog surrounded her on all sides, completely boxing her in and stopping her from seeing anything except the floor and herself. Alas, she had not the time to consider her options – she just picked a direction and ran.

Light flooded her vision as she scrambled forwards, but she hadn't the time to process it before she collapsed to the floor in a heap. The floor was wooden…but oddly golden. Maybe that was just a hallucination from the weird rainbow smoke which had previously resided within her. On closer inspection, it looked like the centre of an oak tree. As if someone had hewn a massive tree directly across the middle, and we were now standing – or prostrating, in her case, – upon it. It was only then that Neo realised that this burning in her chest was twofold. The first source was obvious – that smoke which she had breathed in. The second was…the lingering remnants of powerful emotions.

Things which she had long desired. People she had longed to see again. Words which she had wanted to say. Flashes of people. Cinder. Ruby. Roman… Her parents… A ceaseless kaleidoscope of images which blurred and overlapped and then…dissolved in her mind as she coughed out the last of the peculiar rainbow mist.

Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Neo could not recall much. Similar to the spinning images in her head, her consciousness ebbed and flowed. She remembered an oddly coloured cat. Suddenly, a much larger cat which sported a new, black, and white colour scheme. Laughing… And then a fight in which the cat was ultimately winning. Clashes of white and black against yellow, black, white, and gold. Despite being outnumbered, the cat was clearly winning the exchange.

And then, suddenly, a flash of red burst into the scene. At first, Neo was unsure if she had somehow sustained a head injury despite being a safe distance away from the ongoing brawl. And then, she realised that it was not she who had become stained with red – it was the battle, itself. Another brawler had joined the fray – her old nemesis, Little Red.

But how? She had watched the tree swallow her whole, shortly after she drank that gods-forsaken tea. Watching her fall into the sudden crevice below was…not therapeutic like she had first envisioned it. In fact, replaying that scene in her head was giving her a headache. It was that single defining moment which shattered two different people completely. Little Red herself, and…well…herself. Neopolitan. Or Trivia Vanille, if we want to be specific as much as we want to cling to the past.

Finally, everything stopped spinning. She reached for Hush – her beloved parasol, weapon, and companion – and used it as a walking cane in order to pull herself up to her feet. By now, the fight was already over. She watched as Ruby and her friends raced around a globe of glyphs, pummelling the poor cat in the centre as they passed, before finishing him off with a colossal multi-attack which sent the mischievous feline into the ground, leaving a crater in the woodwork. The smoke cleared and laying defeated was that infernal cat, sporting its typical purple and cyan colours. It spoke in an unnatural, deep, and dark tone of voice as if it were truly a demon or some kind of Grimm.

"You're broken!" He spoke, before his voice diminished into his usual tone. "You ruin everything you touch! I called humans…WEAK! CONFUSED! INCOMPLETE!" He cried.

"You're wrong," spoke that 'Ice Queen.' Neo still didn't like that one; she was the queen of Ice Cream, so it was only natural that an invisible rivalry was there. Plus, she punted Neo through a big door whilst surfing on a bunch of circles way back before they all fell down into fairytale land. Not cool.

"She's never been any of those things," added the yellow tomboy. All Neo remembered of her was how she styled on her in that tube train. Ah, good times.

"That's why we follow her," concluded the black cat. In truth, Roman always dealt with her… so…

"We're going to Remnant," stated Ruby as she and the others walked past the cat and towards the giant door. "And you're staying here."

The cat hissed and narrowed its eyes as it growled in anger. Scampering to its feet, it quickly nestled into a pouncing position… It leapt at Little Red, but Neo certainly wasn't planning to let it even attempt to do…whatever it was trying to do. Whilst Team Friendship over there was prattling on about why their fearless leader, Little Miss I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Me-Anymore, was not – nor has ever been – weak, confused, or incomplete, Neo had finally gotten to her feet. The cat was quickly caught, but not by Neo. Rather, by one of the Jabberwockies which Neo had created with her semblance. That damn cat would not get off lightly for exploiting her moment of weakness in order to turn her into a fleshy puppet. As much as she was okay with being a cat girl from time to time, that was her thing. And the weird thing about jumping in her mouth was also most certainly not okay, either. He was just lucky that Neo didn't suddenly have the urge to cough up a hairball, else she probably would have stalled his execution until he begged for death. Alas…she just wanted it to be over, so she nonchalantly gave the silent command to kill.

"NO! OH NO! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Screamed the cat as it was dogpiled and devoured by those surprisingly realistic illusions of hers. The shrieks were only covered by the growls of the jabberwockies and the sound of flesh being torn. The girl didn't even bother to look at Team Friendship's horrified faces as they watched the cat get torn apart limb-by-limb, piece-by-piece, whisker-by-whisker. She just maintained that insidious scowl of hers as she pointed that parasol with malice. And…just as soon as the deed was done…felt her eyes roll backwards as she lost her footing and collapsed to the ground, dropping Hush as she lost consciousness for a moment.

As it so happens, summoning a group of murderous savages to eviscerate your enemies in a moment of rage (whilst only just regaining consciousness) was a rather draining process which was likely to use up most of your remaining strength. Who knew?

Apparently, Neo falling over was enough of a reason for the group of wannabe heroes to have a big group hug whilst the mute shortstack stumbled back up onto her feet, seeing Little Red hesitating slightly, before being engulfed by her friends. The joy on their faces was palpable. It was easy to see why they were so elated; a friend who was gone has now returned. The way home stood waiting. And Neo… well… she was just there.

A solemn expression had manifested on her face whilst she wasn't looking.

"To have what they have…" spoke a familiar voice. Her own semblance was beginning to find new ways to sneak up on her, it would seem. Her mentor, father figure and partner-in-crime wandered beside her, still sporting his dashing bowler hat and coat. "What a thing, huh?" He took the words right out of her mouth, then watched as she turned away from the festivities and wandered towards the edge of the tree. She found herself looking upwards at first…before her gaze turned downwards, and she found herself staring into the dark abyss of rainbow leaves and the foreboding branches which bore them. An ominous chill rushed down her spine as a dark wind briefly fluttered in the breeze.

Though Neo was there, her thoughts were far, far away. She thought about everything. Her life. Her misdeeds. Her…irredeemable actions. She had set out for revenge against the one who slew her mentor and yet…as soon as she finally got everything she wanted, she realised that it wasn't what she wanted at all. She still remembered it well. What it feels like to be so…hollow. Like your life is devoid of purpose all of a sudden. Neo had no friends to return to. No family. Not even a job. She was just a criminal who had devoted it all to the pursuit of revenge which she never even honestly wanted to begin with. Like Roman said…maybe that desire for revenge was actually jealousy of her camaraderie. The only reason to go back which she could think of was Cinder. That harlot was also to blame for Roman's death. And yet…she now knew that revenge was pointless.

Neo had staked everything on it because, in her delusional mindset, it would somehow bring Roman back. But, of course, deep in her soul…she always knew that was never going to be a thing. She just remembered that fact when it was far too late.

Then, she thought about that girl. Ruby Rose. She'd hated her guts for so long. She always interfered with her plans and then made off with the one thing which Neo had ever wanted or had. Always preaching about doing the right thing or trying to save everyone. When Neo subjected her to that terrible tea party, it had felt cathartic to finally say what she was thinking – even from a third person perspective. It felt even better when she saw how her face twisted in horror, depression and then… reluctant acceptance. But that final moment shattered Neo almost as much as it had shattered Ruby.

But now…

"So…that's it, then?" asked Roman. It was only natural that he knew what Neo was thinking. Well…he was technically a part of her, now, even if he was only a living memory which had begun to haunt her. She sighed…and turned to face him. It was a face which she had loved for an exceedingly long time. She just wanted to see it one more time before… If only it was real.

He sighed softly, leaning into her touch which she had extended without thinking. The hand on his cheek pressed gently against him. His smile was warm…but apologetic. "Yeah…I know… I'm not real." As the words left his mouth, he began to dissolve into the familiar pink fragments of her semblance. Those tiny pink shapes fluttered briefly in the breeze…before fading away. Forever.

Neo drew another deep breath as she now found herself looking at the mismatched group of colours who had stopped their embracing party to look at her, as if she were a wasp on the wall. The silence was soon broken by the only man amongst them. The bearded, rust-covered knight which stuck out like a sore thumb when surrounded by the young women of Team RWBY.

"What about her?" He asked, clearly referring to Neo, as if she didn't just have a ground-breaking moment of self-revelation a moment ago. Maybe he thought that she was stupid enough – or bold enough – to want to fight them or something.

It took everything in her to force a gentle smile, point her parasol at the group, take off her hat with a flourishing curtsy… and then jump backwards off the edge of the tree, parasol extending to slow her fall. She didn't even realise the group had rushed to the edge to watch her descend. Just heard the parting words from her former adversary.

"…She'll find herself…one way or another."