Chapter 34

"She's still out, Miss Schnee. We'll let you in to see her one we finish her assessment and get any necessary treatments started, but it's still going to be a little while."

As the staff finished Weiss and Ruby's once-overs, Ruby asked the infirmary nurse if there was someone she could talk with over the coming weeks about what happened. Deep down, she knew Weiss was right – they did their duty and protected countless lives, but she knew it was going to crush her if she kept it buried inside and didn't let it out. She had her team, but they were all likely to have the same view as Weiss. Ruby really just wanted someone to listen to her as she tried to work through everything, not someone who was just tell her that it's all okay and she 'did the right thing', because that wasn't going to make it any easier on her.

The pair asked the infirmary nurse to let them know as soon as they could see Neo, and joined Yang and Blake in the waiting area. Weiss took a seat with her back to the wall so she could watch for any sign about Neo's condition and stretched out to wait. Ruby took a seat next to her sister and rubbed a hand over her head. The blonde's hair was cool to the touch and her eyes were back to their normal lilac color.

"You okay coming down from that? I know it can be tough on you."

Yang smiled at her as she ruffled Ruby's hair, "Yeah, kiddo. I'm going to be fine. How about you?"

Ruby shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head noncommittally, "Eventually… One day at a time, I guess."

"That's all any of us do, Ruby." Blake said with a heartbreakingly sad look in her eyes.

Ruby got up, moved past Yang, and sat on the small couch next to Blake. She leaned against the girl, reached a hand up and started to scratch the base of her Faunus ears below the bow.

"Careful…"

"I won't knock your bow off." Ruby said as she continued to comfort her friend. "We're all here for each other. If you ever want to talk, or snuggle, or cry, or hug it out, I'll be here for you, Blake." She looked at her sister and Weiss and continued, "For all of you."

Ruby felt a low rumble coming from Blake as she leaned against her. Before long, Ruby's hand, and eyes, started to get heavy and she drifted off to sleep.

Before long, Blake and Yang joined her in a well-deserved nap. Only Weiss remained awake, watching the nurses and staff vigilantly as she waited for a sign that it was okay to go in and see Neo. The wait was crushing her. She had no idea what condition her girlfriend was in and she knew that she needed to be there for the woman. Let her know that she wasn't alone. That Weiss was, as promised, always beside, in front of, and behind her.

Well over an hour later, one of the staff members came to get Weiss.

"Miss Schnee?"

"Yes?"

"She's still in pretty rough shape, but I think she'll fully recover in due time. For the time being, though, I think it's best if you and the rest of her team join her and keep her company for a little while."

Weiss looked at the trio of sleeping teammates and decided it was best to let sleeping bears lie, as it were. She tapped out a message on her scroll and sent it to all three.

*- I'll be in Neo's room. You can come in when you wake up…

When none of them woke up, she smiled at the thought of some alone time with her girlfriend and followed the woman to Neo's room.

As Weiss entered the room, she saw the small woman seated in her bed, bandages wrapped around her head, multiple IVs in her arm and an array of other equipment – heart monitor, blood pressure cuff, and other dangly wires – attached to her. With some dismay, Weiss also noticed from the tufts of hair sticking out from under the bandages, that Neo's hair was once again brown and pink with white streaks in it and her eyes were back to their characteristic brown and pink.

Weiss stepped into the small room and paused well before the bed as she nervously raised her right hand in a wave and tried to smile at Neo. Neo waved back and motioned for Weiss to come closer and sit with her. With another half-smile, Weiss walked over to the far side of the bed and gave Neo a small kiss on the nose before booping it, and took the woman's left hand in her own and eased herself into a chair close to Neo's head.

The pair sat in silence for quite some time; neither able to start communicating with the other. Weiss occasionally looked at her girlfriend and smiled before looking away as soon as Neo returned her gaze.

After a short while, Neo gingerly tried to shake her head lightly.

"What are… Neo?" Weiss started to panic as the woman's eyes closed and her head lolled back and to the side.

She felt a squeeze on her hand that turned into a very hard grip, which released after a handful of seconds. Neo picked her head up to look at Weiss with her piercing green eyes and Weiss noticed that the woman once again had black hair.

"Is this what you wanted, Weiss?"

Weiss couldn't believe the beautiful voice Neo had. As a decent amateur singer herself, she knew a fair bit about the characteristics of a pleasing voice, and her girlfriend was a textbook version of it. She looked Neo in the eyes and simply nodded 'yes'.

"When I activate my Semblance, I can control my appearance. It's an illusion that functions as a bit of a shield, but it takes a lot of mental energy to hold constantly, for years at a time. One of the impacts is that I can't talk, I just don't have the mental capacity to do it as well… When I'm like this, in my natural, relaxed state, I'm vulnerable. You saw that it takes a few seconds for me to transition." Neopolitan forced a smile, "And that's why one of those kitten-swats Yang calls punches actually knocked me out this time, I was mostly unprotected."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah… They tell me that I will…"

"If you weren't in an infirmary bed hooked to all of this stuff, I would beat the stuffing out of you right now." Weiss's normally solid grip on her emotions started to slip, fast.

"Weiss, I –"

Weiss interrupted the woman, angry and shouted at her, "No! You were going to kill yourself. With Myrtenaster… That sword is a part of my soul! You were, essentially, going to make me kill you. How can anything you say change that?" Weiss dropped Neo's hand and buried her face in her hands, trying to force the tears to stay in her eyes.

Neopolitan shifted herself in her bed and gently reached an arm out to hold Weiss.

When the girl didn't bolt away or throw her arm away, she slid closer and tried, as best as she was able in the current situation, to hug Weiss.

"I was twelve when Cinder lead an attack on my village outside of Haven. I only survived because my family hid me when the attack began." Neopolitan's voice hitched as her own tears began to fall and the emotional pain started to catch up with her. "I saw her torture and kill them, but I still don't know why." She shook her head in frustration, "I never found out why."

Neo took a deep breath and continued, "So I activated my Semblance and never let it down. I followed and observed them. After several months scrounging to survive, I managed to gain acceptance when one of her underlings noticed my prowess at stealing food and coins." She smiled, "It was the in I needed… Then I spent the next seven years," she looked at Weiss, "the past seven years, working my way up to become a part of her inner circle."

Weiss was completely absorbed into her girlfriend's story to the point that she never heard Ruby, Blake, and Yang enter behind her.

"I was getting close. I nearly had all of the details figured out; how I was going to kill her. And then, I was transferred to watch over Roman and make sure he didn't screw up any more than he already had." A wry chuckle, "Of course he was far too far gone for me to stop that! But it threw my plans off. And then you attacked the train and spared my life."

She stopped and looked at all of the girls in turn.

"And then, Cinder found out I was here with you. She was determined to kill all of us, even the four of you, because of me… You had to fight through one hell of a battle, because of me… Then I finally had my revenge, but I didn't feel complete or satisfied. The rush of relief I anticipated didn't come. Instead, I felt empty as I watched myself thrust your rapier into her body and saw her die at my hand… Nothing will bring them back. Nothing will change what I put you through. Nothing will change the fact that I will never atone for what I've done. Nothing could ever prove that my past actions were worthy of the love and acceptance each of you, and everyone else at this Academy, have showered me with."

Neopolitan cried as she balled her fists and pressed them into her eyes.

"And then, in an inexplicable act of love for someone that tried to kill you, Yang, you saved my life. Again." She tried to wipe away the tears, somewhat unsuccessfully, "And now, I don't want to die anymore… I want to be a part of Team RWBY and repay you all of the kindnesses you have given me."

Weiss jumped at the sound of another voice from behind her.

"I think the rest of my team would agree with me; we want you to be a part of Team RWBY. And, after seeing you in action, I think all the other teams would be jealous of our new star addition!" Ruby enthusiastically responded.

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like you actually could have killed me." Yang said with a wink.

Blake simply smiled at the woman and nodded as she wrapped her arm around Yang.

"Weiss?" Ruby prodded the girl.

"Are you sure you're okay with it, Ruby?"

"Yeah." Ruby ran a hand over Weiss's head and through her long hair. "As long as it's what you want, I'm completely okay with it."

Weiss met Ruby's steel-grey eyes, looking for any sign that she should say 'no', but she saw none. She simply nodded to her leader.

Ruby darted over to the bed and carefully wrapped up both Neo and Weiss into her arms, "Welcome aboard, for the second time, Neo!"