Chapter 8- Neo

Weiss and Ruby had stuff to do downtown, so Orion and I were left alone with Blake. She started showing us around the school, but for the most part she was just catching up with Orion. I soon grew bored of walking in circles and listening to the two of them chat, so I slipped a room key into Orion's coat pocket and sneaked away as silently as I could. I teleported before either of them could notice I had gone.

We'd already found our dorm and left our bags there, so all I had with me was my parasol as I wandered the empty halls of Beacon Academy. I was looking for a certain blond who hated my guts. 'If I have to take down Cinder Fall with team RWBY then Yang and I have to bury the hatchet,' I thought and I strutted down another corridor. I knew how to do this, but I was having second thoughts. 'People like Yang only know how to solve problems one way: with their fists. I'll have to let her beat me. I brought her near death on the train. Now I have to let her bring me near death and trust her not to go too far. It'll be hard not to fight back, but I don't have much of an option.'

I nearly ran into the the brawler as I turned the next corner. Her normally lilac eyes immediately turned red when she saw who I was. "You," she snarled as her gold bracelets extended over her wrists, forming a pair of golden gauntlets.

She brought one of her fists down at my face without a moment's warning. Before I could stop myself, I used the handle of my parasol to deflect her punch into the wall and kneed her in the stomach. She bent over in pain and I rolled over her back, hooking her neck with my parasol handle and using my momentum to throw her over myself. It's a move Roman had taught me. He used to use it with Melodic Cudgel, his cane. I guess I'd used it enough to use it without thinking. 'So much for not fighting back...'

"You bitch!" Yang yelled as she struggled to her feet. She was visibly shaking with anger and her hair seemed to be on fire. I bowed my head and threw my parasol to the side. I could probably beat her without it, but now I was ready. I wouldn't fight back this time.

Yang was obviously surprised by my actions, but she quickly regained her resolve. She walked right up to me, as she had that day on the train, and punched right at my face. I didn't block this time. I felt her fist connect with my jaw, and the only thing that stopped her from breaking it was my aura. She then came in with a left hook and an uppercut that sent me back several feet. 'Damn, she can hit hard. My jaw's killing me!' I struggled to my feet as the blond approached me again. Before I could stand up entirely, she grabbed me by the collar and lifted me to her eye level. I was now a good foot off the ground, staring with glazed over, mismatched eyes into the eyes of the girl I'd almost killed just under a year ago.

"WHY- AREN'T- YOU- FIGHTING- BACK?!" Each word was helped by a powerful punch to my stomach. I felt two of my ribs break, and my aura burned as it tried to fix me. But it would take hours to fix this much damage. My assailant threw me back down but this time I didn't have the energy to get up, so I just stayed down. She walked over and sat on my chest, who hurt my broken ribs even more, causing me to groan involuntarily. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness, but I fought it with everything I had. 'Deserve this,' I though weakly. 'I need to be awake for this.' Also, I was interested to see how far Yang would go. Her hair was still glowing and her eyes were a dark red as she stared down at me. She raised her fist over my head, but she looked thoughtful. No doubt she was trying to make sense of why I didn't fight back, but I was slipping fast.

I made a final attempt for forgiveness. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, which was barely a squint, and stared up into Yang's. "I'm sorry..." Was all I could get out before everything went dark.

Orion

Blake and I were running through the halls of Beacon Academy, trying to find Neo. I'd been tracking her aura from the moment she left us, but at some point there was a brilliant flash of gold aura in the same location. Now Neo's was to weak to sense. I knew it had to be Yang, and I knew why Neo had gone looking for her. She wanted to make amends. It was a noble cause, but Yang didn't seem to be getting it. She would probably kill Neo if she got the chance. Even now I could feel the gold aura still radiating from somewhere straight ahead.

As I turned another corner I came face-to-face with Blake's blond teammate. She was walking in the opposite direction with a badly beaten and battered Neo in her arms and tears streaming down her face. I could tell Neo was still breathing, but she was unconscious. Her aura was depleted and I could sense that she had two broken ribs, as well as a broken jaw. The sight tore at my heart and I whipped out my umbrella, aiming the barrel right at Yang's head. "What the hell is wrong with you?" I asked through gritted teeth. "Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now!" Blake stepped between us before Yang could say anything.

"Orion, please! It's over now! Neo's still alive and Yang obviously feels bad," the faunus girl said. "This is exactly why Neo came! You said it yourself. She felt bad about what she did to Yang and was probably trying to settle the score! Well the score's settled now, so put your weapon down. Neo needs to be in the infirmary!"

Yang looked even more crushed than before. Fresh tears crawled down her cheeks as she stepped around her friend to face me. "Please, Orion. I tried to get back at her for what she did to me on the train that one day, but I took it way too far. She needs a nurse right now or she could die. I've already done way more to her than she did to me on that train. I could never live with myself knowing I'd killed her." I nodded in understanding. I could tell Neo was going to be fine once her aura was back, or else I wouldn't've stopped Yang, but I needed to know Yang felt bad and wouldn't hold that grudge any longer. Neo's plan had worked out. Yang no longer seemed to hate her guts and was even trying to save her life.

I continued ahead as Yang and Blake raced to the infirmary. Neo would be fine, but she'd be livid if she woke up to find that Yang had lost her parasol.