So that new episode was something huh? We finally get to see some of Yang and Ruby's back story as well as our first glimpse of Qrow which makes me very excited to see him. However since Summer apparently is just missing not confirmed dead I will be pissed if she's still alive despite this good job RT. Man this chapter took for ages to write, there's no way I'll be able to continue weekly updates with my work load sorry guys. I'll work on chapters when I can but there is not set deadline anymore. Ok thanks to Tommy again for the inspiration for this chapter without it you would probably be waiting another week for the chapter.
I don't own RWBY if I did Jaune would get over Weiss already.
'It really is a beautiful night,' thought Red, inhaling deeply. She rarely saw such a peaceful, clear star lit night back home, the big cities made sure of that. Red really loved the view from the top of Beacon's towers, they were a challenge to reach and always rewarding afterwards. Her own private little sanctuary where she could be alone with her thoughts, though Red suspected Ozpin knew about it since she had often found a mug of hot coffee left unattended for her when she arrived. How interesting now I see why he was so fascinated with you… Red frowned, 'what did she mean by that?' she wondered looking at the sky. Unfortunately she was snapped out of her thoughts when the sound of clashing metal reached her, causing Red to jump and reach for Crescent Rose. Looking down to the roof she relaxed and smiled, watching as Jaune and Pyrrha began there sparring session. She was surprised by Jaune's progress, he was by no means a master and was full of openings but he had definitely improved since he'd started. Red blinked, 'once upon a time the only weapons I ever used were in video games, now I'm walking around with an anti-material sniper scythe and critiquing other's fighting styles. How times have changed,' she thought with a rueful smile. Jumping down from her sanctuary she headed to the roof as the two members of team JNPR finished sparring, neither noticing her approach as they engaged the other in conversation. 'This is going to be fun,' she grinned.
Quietly she snuck up on the duo as they were chatting before taking a deep breath, "LOOK OUT NEVERMORE!" she yelled in their ears.
Both of them jumped with Jaune letting out a girly scream as he fell to the ground and Pyrrha spinning around, Miló and Akoúo̱ drawn on Red. Despite the weapons pointed at her face Red couldn't help but fall to the ground, rolling in laughter.
"Oh my God that scream was perfect, you should have seen your faces," she struggled out between gasps.
Pyrrha looked at her unamused but sheathed her weapons none the less, while Jaune went crimson with embarrassment. Red slowly got herself under control, wiping the tears from her eyes, she got up from the ground.
"So… talk about déjà vu right?" she asked, ignoring Pyrrha's suspicious gaze.
"Déjà who?" replied Jaune in confusion.
Red shook her head in amusement, "never mind, you're sword skills are looking better Jaune. Guess your training is working right Pyrrha?" she asked, turning to the red head.
The Spartan just nodded and carefully manoeuvred herself between Red and Jaune, keeping a hand on Miló and both eyes on her at all times.
Red sighed, "Relax Pyrrha I'm not here to cause trouble."
"Then why are you here Ruby?" she asked, coldly.
Red turned to look up at the sky, "the stars are beautiful tonight aren't they? We never got to see them much back home, but there's something incredibly peaceful about lying down and staring up at them. Almost makes all your problems just seem to fly away," she said wistfully.
Pyrrha and Jaune looked at each other confused and followed her gaze, "I can't say I really feel the same, but I guess I can understand the appeal," replied the Spartan.
"Do you ever miss it? You're home I mean?" asked Jaune gently.
Red smiled sadly and sat down on the roof's edge, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't, but I've learnt to accept it."
Jaune cautiously made his way over and sat down beside her, "so if you could go back right now, would you?"
She just shrugged, "if you'd asked me a month ago I would have said yes without hesitation."
"But now?" prompted Pyrrha joining them.
Red paused, thinking back over the past couple of weeks, "I don't know anymore," she admitted.
"So what changed?" asked Jaune curiously.
Images of Yang, Cardin and Ruby sprang into her head, "I guess you could say my outlook did," answered Red with a smile.
The three of them descended into a comfortable silence as they looked over the school grounds, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Eventually Pyrrha stood up and dragged Jaune to his feet, "come on Jaune we need to get some rest for our mission tomorrow."
Red looked up in surprise, "you've been given a mission?" she exclaimed.
Jaune nodded, "yeah just a pack of Beowolves causing trouble in a small village," he explained.
"I see, well good luck then Vomit Boy," she said grinning.
"Thanks Crater Face, here's hoping I won't need it," he replied, gratefully before heading back to the dorms.
Pyrrha was about to follow him when Red's voice stopped her, "hey Pyrrha he's dense as a doorknob and twice as thick, if you want him to figure it out you need to be more direct, maybe a kiss would seal the deal," she informed the red head with a wink and a knowing smirk.
The Spartan's face matched her hair as she quickly followed Jaune back to the dorms, leaving a laughing Red to return to her star gazing.
"Damn Arkos shippers will be the death of me," she cursed, struggling to breathe through the laughter.
Red watched as Prof. Oobleck darted from place to place, her eyes tracking every movement perfectly, a stack of papers growing on her desk. She felt everyone's eyes watching her as she reached for another blank sheet of paper, her hand nothing but a blur as it wrote down everything Oobleck said faster the he could say it. By the end of the lesson everyone, even the professor, looked slightly shocked by the amount of notes she'd taken.
Red just looked around shrugging, "my semblance is speed remember guys?" she explained, smirking.
"Wait so you copied down everything the professor said?" asked Weiss in disbelief.
"Most of it," corrected Red, "I left out the unimportant bits."
The class was silent as they processed this with wide eyes, Yang immediately threw an arm around her shoulder, "Sis did I ever tell you how much I care for you?"
"You want notes then use your own Yang," replied Red, grinning as she took the blonde's arm off her shoulder.
Red packed up her notes and was about to leave when she stopped as she had a brainwave, her grin still in place she stood on her chair, "for everyone who wants a copy of Professor Oobleck's lecture it will start at 5 lien, remember highest bidder wins, any takers?" she auctioned.
There was a brief lull in the classroom, almost like the calm before the storm, then suddenly Red was surrounded by bidding students. Professor Oobleck just watched the scene in growing amusement as she was swarmed by over eager students, each pushing the others out of the way. Unfortunately this pushing session led to all the students breaking out into a brawl, leaving all the potential bidders on the floor unconscious. Team RWBY just watched the end result from the carnage with shock when they heard chuckling coming from Oobleck.
"Well Miss Rose when the Headmaster told us about you I must admit I thought he was joking, but you really are Chaos Incarnate," commented the professor amused.
"I'm not that bad am I?" she pondered.
"Ruby this is the sixth time this week you've caused a riot," said Yang sternly.
Red looked up in surprise at this, "but it's only been two days," she exclaimed in disbelief.
"Exactly my point! If you keep this up I'm taking away your cookie privileges," threatened the blonde.
Red gasped, "You fiend!" she cried.
Yang looked on unimpressed as she dragged her out of the room leaving the others to apologize to the professor. After a couple of minutes Weiss and Blake caught up and they walked on to the cafeteria to get some lunch. For most of RWBY it was too quite without team JNPR here but Red didn't mind, after all she wasn't really on that good terms with them plus she usually sat with CRDL most days anyway.
"Hey guys what's up?" greeted a male voice.
Turning around they saw Sun walking over to them, a silly grin on his face. The monkey Faunus joined them at the table with a plate full of bananas. 'Why is Sun here he isn't a Beacon student, is he?' thought Red confused.
"What are you doing here Sun?" she asked.
He turned to look at her, "I'm part of the Haven students staying here for the festival," he explained.
Red frowned, 'what's Haven? A Beacon equivalent?' she thought confused before Sun snapped her out of her thoughts.
"I remember you, you were at the shipyards," he said, staring at her.
"This is my younger sister and leader of team RWBY, Ruby Rose," introduced Yang.
"Or you can just call me Red, whatever you prefer," Red added.
Sun dropped his food and just stared at her with unblinking eyes. RWBY shared glances with each other as Red waved her hand in front the stunned Faunus.
"I think I broke him," she joked.
Sun shook his head and turned to face her, "you're Ruby Rose? The Red Reaper, the Destroyer of Classrooms and Chaos Incarnate?" he asked, hesitantly.
"Hey! Yang destroyed the combat room to and how come everyone knew about this chaos thing but me," she said, defensively.
Sun's eyes became wide at this as he ran over to her and, much to everyone's surprise, knelt down on one knee in front of her. "My Queen please take pity on this humble Faunus and teach me your ways," he begged.
All of their jaws dropped at this, Red quickly recovered however as a grin spread on her face, "very well Sun Wukong I shall take you under my wing," she replied, taking out Crescent Rose.
"From this moment on you shall be known as Sir Sun," she announced, placing the scythe on both his shoulders.
As Sun stood up he turned to face her, "by the way how did you know my name?" he asked, confused.
"Oh err… I heard the others talking about you," she lied.
"Whatever they said is a lie," denied the Faunus.
Red laughed and turned to the rest of team RWBY, "I'll see you guys later, come on Sir Sun we have work to do," she said, giving them a wave.
"Remember what I said Ruby," threatened Yang.
"You said I couldn't do anything, you never said anything about someone else doing it," informed Red, sticking out her tongue at the blonde as they turned to leave.
"Team RWBY please report to the headmaster's office immediately," ordered a voice over the PA system.
They all looked at each other in confusion before saying goodbye to Sun as they left the cafeteria and headed to Ozpin's office.
Red closed her eyes and gripped the harness as the Bullhead made its way to their destination, 'I had hoped never to set foot in one of these again,' she thought pale faced. The rest of team RWBY were silent as they gave their equipment last minute checks, a concerned atmosphere spreading throughout the aircraft. The sombre mood didn't surprise Red as she thought back to when they were given this mission.
The four of them stood in Ozpin's office, waiting for the headmaster to explain the cause for the sudden meeting. The headmaster was missing his trademark mug of coffee as he placed his scroll back on his desk with a sigh.
"Two days ago I sent team JNPR on a routine patrol mission to a small village," he began.
Red nodded, "yeah Jaune told me, it was to eliminate a pack of Beowolves right?" she asked.
Ozpin glanced at her, "correct Miss Rose, however we have currently lost all contact with them. To make matters worse their last transmission was a request for back up."
They all frowned, while Jaune wasn't the best fighter his teammates were no push overs, Pyrrha was even world famous because of it. They should have been able to take out a pack of Beowolves easily, seeing their expressions Ozpin nodded.
"It seems you understand the situation, I'm sending you all to find out what happened to them and if necessary help them complete their mission," he ordered them.
"Understood," they all replied.
Red was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the Bullhead pilot, "ok we're in sight of the village now so far no activity of any kind, it looks deserted. I'll drop you off near the town centre then move to a safe distance. Radio in when you want an evac."
"Got it, thanks mate," replied Red.
As the aircraft touched down team RWBY quickly rushed out with weapons drawn, seeing nothing they turned to watch the Bullhead fly off. As they walked down the empty streets a sense of unease began to grow, 'where is everyone?' thought Red wearily. She could almost feel eyes watching their every move as they searched the nearby houses.
"Hello! Anyone home?" called Yang knocking on the door.
Red jumped, "Yang stop that!" she ordered, fearfully.
The other three just turned to look at her in surprise, "something is watching us," explained Red.
"How can you tell?" asked Weiss.
Red just shot the heiress a deadpan look before turning to Blake, "Blake you have the best night vision, I want you to find some high ground and begin searching for JNPR. The rest of us will continue to look for clues to what happened here."
The Faunus nodded and climbed up on the roof before disappearing into the darkness to begin her search. The rest of team RWBY headed down the streets, keeping their weapons ready as they searched the nearby houses.
"I don't like this, where did everyone go?" asked Weiss nervously.
"The lights are on and some even have their dinner still set up so they must have left in a hurry," commented Yang.
"But what could cause everyone to just abandon their homes?" replied the heiress.
"Survival," answered Yang as she examined a wall.
"A pack of Beowolves wouldn't cause them to abandon the entire village," argued Weiss.
"That's assuming that the Grimm did this," shot back the blonde.
"What do you mean Yang?" asked Red.
Yang got up and turned to face them, "this place is too intact, if Grimm were responsible for this then we would be seeing more destroyed infrastructure. Also take a look at this wall, notice anything about it?" she explained.
Red and Weiss looked at each and shrugged before approaching the wall, "ok Yang we give up what are we supposed to be looking for?" asked Red, after a couple of minutes.
The brawler approached them, "look at the wall, it's covered with holes," replied Yang, pointing at the numerous holes.
Red's eyes widened, "they're from dust rounds," she exclaimed in understanding.
Yang nodded, "exactly and last I checked Grimm don't use guns."
"True but they could have been caused by team JNPR's weapons," replied Weiss.
Yang frowned and was about to argue when they heard a sound coming from behind them, causing them to spin around with weapons ready. Only to lower them as they saw the NPR of JNPR stumble out of the alley way.
"Are you guys ok? What happened here? Where's Jaune?" asked Red as they rushed over to them.
Upon hearing her voice the remnants of team JNPR looked up and readied there weapons, an expression of hate on all their faces. Red stopped and began backing away as Pyrrha charged her, shield bashing her in the face before she could react.
"You monster!" screamed the Spartan, readying another attack.
Unable to dodge in time Red just closed her eyes and waited for the blow that never came. Opening her eyes in surprise she saw Yang grasping Pyrrha's spear before throwing a punch that knocked the Spartan back a few feet.
"Ruby why don't you take a walk, Weiss and I need to have a little chat with JNPR," said the glowing blonde as Weiss walked up beside her.
"Yang are you sure?" asked Red.
Yang nodded, "Go find Jaune maybe he can tell us what happened here, we'll try to keep them busy for as long as we can," she ordered.
"Alright I'll be as quick as I can, just be careful you two, they look serious," replied Red as she disappeared into rose petals.
"Don't worry Ruby it's not us you should be worried about," growled Yang as they both got into their combat stances.
Pyrrha watched as Ruby disappeared an enraged expression on her face, "Why are you defending that monster!" she screamed at them.
"She's not a monster Pyrrha, she's just been dealt a bad hand," argued Weiss.
Pyrrha rounded on her, "You to Weiss! I expected it from Yang but you to!" she roared.
"You have no idea what she's done," growled Ren.
"I'm going to break her legs," hissed Nora.
"What are you all talking about? Where is Jaune?" asked Yang confused.
And as if a trigger had been pulled the minute Yang mentioned the name Pyrrha roared in fury before charging the two members of RWBY followed by Nora and Ren. Weiss quickly threw up a glyph underneath them as they dived to the sides, avoiding NPR's mad bull rush.
"Weiss I'll take Pyrrha you keep Ren and Nora busy," ordered Yang.
Weiss nodded, "alright but be careful her semblance is Polarity," warned the heiress as they split apart.
Yang nodded and fired multiple rounds at the trio forcing them to separate before charging the Spartan while Weiss blocked off Ren and Nora. Quickly closing the distance between the two of them she dodged the red head's return fire, landing a punch that was blocked by the shield causing Pyrrha to nearly stumble from the force of the blow. Glaring the two began circling each other neither breaking eye contact.
Weiss had been trained to fight since a young age, so she was no stranger to combat. However her style was more suited to one on one style duelling and was not as effective against multiple opponents, especially against these two. It was clear that they were partners for a reason, both their fighting styles effectively covering for the other. As a result Weiss was always on the defensive, whenever the heiress saw an opening she was unable to take advantage of it as the other would press their attack. 'I need to isolate them, but if I do one of them might go after Ruby,' she thought angrily as she dodged another jumping hammer attack.
"Would you two just calm down and think about what you're doing!" she yelled at them.
"We're doing the right thing, now stand aside Weiss. We only want Ruby," stated Ren calmly.
"That's not going to happen," replied the heiress, throwing a stasis glyph around Nora before shooting towards Ren.
The eastern boy twisted out of the way and sent an aura infused palm strike into her stomach as she passed, causing her to fall to the ground coughing. Unable to focus through the shock and pain of the blow her glyph around Nora faded, releasing the ginger from her prison. The two began to walk back to Pyrrha leaving Weiss on the ground struggling to catch her breath. Seeing her chance she stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground encasing their legs in ice.
"Silly Weiss thinks ice will stop Nora!" taunted the ginger as she slammed Magnhild into the ice, shattering it on impact.
Once again freed the two members of team JNPR turned back to the heiress as she staggered up. Both of them began to approach her with weapons drawn when Nora suddenly found herself pushed to the ground as something landed on her.
"You know two on one isn't very fair, why don't we even up the odds?" said Blake.
'What's going on? Why are JNPR attacking me?' thought a confused Red as she ran down the streets. Sure she wasn't exactly welcomed by them anymore but not to the point that they'd attack her for no reason and their expressions, they were the same as Yang's during her escape from Beacon. The buildings were came into focus once again as she slowed to a stop and leaned against a wall, still recovering from her recent blow to the head. 'I need to find Jaune and figure out what happened here,' she realized as the ringing in her head stopped. Red was about to continue her search when an explosion of yellow aura appeared behind her, 'that's Yang's aura, things must be getting worse if she needed to use it.'
"It's such a shame to see friends fight like that, isn't it Red? Especially when they're both in right," commented an amused voice.
Spinning around Red brought Crescent Rose into a ready position, glaring at the girl in front of her. "What do you mean 'both in then right?' What did you do!" she demanded.
The multi-coloured girl smiled, "I didn't do anything, but you on the other hand…" she trailed off twirling the umbrella.
Then the girl disappeared and in her place stood a copy of Red, complete with silver eyes and scythe. "What do you think, not bad huh?" teased her doppelganger as she twirled in front of Red.
"Although we didn't expect the others to defend you, still the unpredictability is what makes these games so much fun," smiled her double.
Red's eyes narrowed, 'we? Damn it she's got help this time around. I need to end this quickly.' Wasting no time she semblanced behind her double, bring Crescent Rose down on her head only to see the image shatter before her eyes.
"Now that wasn't very nice I was having a pleasant conversation here, in fact I was going to tell you where that wannabe knight was," pout the now normal looking girl from above Red.
She turned to face the illusionist, "tell me now," growled Red.
The criminal's Cheshire smile grew larger, "no I don't think I will," she replied.
"Good, now I get to beat the answers out of you," responded Red, a savage grin wide on her face.
Yang dived to the side as Pyrrha threw Akoúo̱ at her, unfortunately the shield followed the blonde's movements hitting her in the gut. The Spartan didn't wait for the brawler to recover from her coughing fit and instead charged Yang with Miló in sword form. Unable to react in time Yang was thrown back into a street light causing it to collapse.
"Pyrrha stop this before one of us gets seriously injured!" cried the blonde as she struggled to her feet.
"Get out of the way Yang, she needs to pay," growled the red head.
"I don't know what's wrong with you Pyrrha but you're not touching Ruby," replied Yang, slamming her fists together.
An explosion of yellow aura erupted from her, blowing away debris and knocking the Spartan to the ground. The red head quickly recovered and back pedalled while firing at Yang, whom leapt into the air as the rounds past beneath her. Pyrrha quickly brought Akoúo̱ up as Yang delivered a downwards punch into the shield, causing the ground to crack beneath them and a large dent to appeared in the shield. Seeing an opportunity Pyrrha let go of Miló and blocked punches from both of Ember Celica's gauntlets. Miló was instantly back in her hand after the blocks and the red head attempted to sweep kicked Yang's feet from under her. Seeing this the blonde tried to block it only to find her hand move too slowly, almost as if something was pushing against it. Eyes widening Yang fell to the ground before rolling to the side as Pyrrha brought her sword down where her head just was. Jumping back into her combat stance Yang backed up as they both stared at each other, waiting for the other to make their next move. 'What just happened? I should have been able to block that kick,' she thought confused. Her eyes rested on her gauntlets as understanding dawned, grinning Yang turned back to face the Spartan as she detached Ember Celica from her wrists.
"Figured I'd give you a handicap after all you seem to need it," teased the glowing blonde.
Pyrrha just snarled and the two charged each other once again.
Blake leapt off Nora as the Ren turned and unloaded a blast from StormFlower at the Faunus, flipping around in midair Blake turned and fired Gambol Shroud. Using her ribbon the Faunus swung into Ren, knocking the eastern boy over before switching to her dual wielding sword and sheath combo. Ren responded by back flipping onto his feet and deflecting both weapons with the blades attached to his SMGs before retaliating by spraying into Blake at point blank range. Noticing this Weiss threw a glyph under her teammate's feet and Blake leapt to the side, turning to face her opponent as he ran at her firing all the way. Nora tried to help her partner but immediately had to dodge numerous fireballs that the heiress threw at her. Growling the ginger switched Magnhild to its grenade launcher form and unleashed a barrage of explosives at Weiss, leaving her with no time or room to dodge. Frowning the heiress stabbed Myrtenaster into the ground creating a wall of ice in front of her just as the grenades hit, causing ice shards to shower all the combatants. Seeing her chance Blake disengaged from Ren and ran over to Weiss.
"Weiss what's going on here?" asked the confused Faunus.
"I don't know when we found them they attacked Ruby," informed Weiss.
The two of them watched as Ren and Nora began moving in complete synch, "this is going to be difficult," said Blake worriedly.
Weiss smirked, "don't worry I have a plan," she whispered.
Red switched Crescent Rose to its gun mode and fired up at the illusionist, not surprised to see the image shatter before her, "smart, instead of charging you're using your range attacks to see if I'm real or not," complemented the girl from behind her.
Red spun around, only to feel a clip of dust rounds to strike her in the back, knocking her to the ground. 'What was that?' she thought glancing around for the source of the fire. As she was searching for her attacker she was hit again and sent flying into a wall, this time from what felt like a kick to the stomach.
"What's the matter Red? You can't stop now the fun's only just begun," teased her opponent.
'She must be hiding her friends as well as her,' realized the reaper. Frowning she climbed out of the Red sized crater and walked into the middle of the street, ignoring the many taunting remarks from the illusionist. 'Ok just like in the store focus on my aura, remember the two sets of eyes,' she thought closing her eyes. Standing stock still and taking a deep breath she steadied her breathing and heart rate, her arms hanging limply by her sides with Crescent Rose back in scythe mode. Feeling something approaching her from behind Red spun around and brought the blunt end down on her opponent. The sound of glass shattering was heard as the White Fang grunt fell to the ground unconscious, not giving them any time to react Red fired into a second figure. By the time the other grunt fell down wounded she had already disappeared in a flash of rose petals, charging the last figure present. Bringing her scythe down with an overhead swing Red felt something block it and the image shattered to reveal a very angry illusionist.
"Hey guess what? I. Can. See. You," grinned Red as she opened her now red outlined silver eyes.
Grinning Red was about to activate her electricity trap when her eyes widened and she jumped back, breaking the deadlock between them as a large dust round passed by where she was moments ago. Turning to face this new threat she felt blood drain from her face. There causally strolling towards her with his characteristic smug grin was none other the Roman Torchwick.
"Well Red you certainly know how to put on a show don't you?" clapped the criminal.
"Well I aim to please," she replied backing away.
"Indeed but I'm afraid you're going to come with us, some important people want to meet you," informed Roman.
"Over my dead body," hissed Red.
"I see that's a shame, Neo if you would," he said, turning to the illusionist.
"Gladly," replied Neo, giving her a hateful glare.
Red smiled, "more illusions? Fine I'll just beat them again and again," she taunted.
Neo grinned, "maybe but can you beat you own demons?" she asked.
Red frowned as everything suddenly turned black around her.
Weiss and Blake dodged to the side as Nora launched another barrage at them while Ren used the covering fire to get in close to them. Knowing the eastern boy's skill in close quarters the two members leapt over Ren, tripping him as they passed and charged Nora, ignoring him all together. Neither member of team JNPR were ready for the sudden change in tactics, forcing the ginger to back pedal while shifting Magnhild back to the hammer mode as they approached. Weiss shot forward with her rapier raised causing Nora to spin and deflect it with the handle of her hammer and swing it around for a counter attack. The minute Nora turned her back however Blake attacked her from behind, stopping the ginger's counter attack and making her cry out in pain. The two of them worked like a pack of Beowolves as they used JNPR's previous tactics against the ginger.
"Nora!" cried Ren as he rushed to his friend's aid.
'Perfect just as we planned,' grinned Weiss as Ren forced Blake off from Nora. Together they forced the two members of JNPR closer and closer until they were literally back to back.
"Now!" called Weiss.
Using all her remaining energy she threw a stasis glyph at the two's feet forcing them to be stuck together. Blake quickly fired Gambol Shroud to Weiss and the two circled their opponents, using the ribbon to tie them up before removing their dropped weapons. With the weapons taken and their wielders captured the heiress dropped her glyph, giving a sigh of exhaustion.
"Why are you here?" questioned the now tied up Ren.
"To help you, we received your distress signal. Only when we get here everyone's missing and the people we were trying to help attack us," growled a very annoyed Weiss.
Ren and Nora looked at each other, "what distress signal?" asked Ren confused.
Weiss and Blake looked equally confused and were about to respond when an all too familiar scream pieced the silent night.
Yang blocked another blow from Pyrrha, wincing slightly, even with the aura coating her arms it still hurt without Ember Celica to help. The red head showed no mercy though, following the attack with a shield bashing from Akoúo̱ to the head nearly knocking the blonde out entirely. Still the force of the blow knock Yang to the ground and Pyrrha backed up watching as the blonde slowly got up from the ground her eyes a blood red and her hair now in flames. Seeing the brawler wasn't going down the Spartan roared in frustration before activating her semblance as bits of debris began floating around her. She threw the pieces at Yang, whom attempted to dodge but like with Akoúo̱ the debris just followed her. Having no other option the brawler simply punched the pieces, using her aura and semblance to shatter them on impact. Noticing this Pyrrha picked up the collapsed street light and using all her energy threw it at Yang at an incredible speed. However instead of seeing the blonde go flying and finally out of her way, Pyrrha's jaw dropped as she watched Yang grabbed the light and stop it entirely.
"Hey Pyrrha, thanks for the power up," said the brawler, grinning as she lifted the light over her head.
"In fact why don't I return the favour," she continued before throwing the light post at the red head.
Not having enough energy left to redirect it the Spartan dived to the side, only to meet Yang as she quickly leapt onto Pyrrha, tackling her to the ground and getting her in a strangle hold.
"Pyrrha calm down! Tell me why you attacked Ruby and where Jaune is," she interrogated.
Pyrrha stopped struggling and broke down into tears, "he's dead and she killed him! She slit his throat right in front of us," cried the Spartan.
Yang frowned, "Pyrrha what are you talking about? Ruby has been with us the entire time you were gone," she informed the sobbing red head.
The Spartan paused, "but that's not possible we saw her!" she exclaimed.
Yang got up from the red head, "Pyrrha she was framed and you played right into their hands," she accused.
Pyrrha looked ready to argue more but stopped when they both heard a scream of pain and terror fill the air. Yang's eyes widened, "hold on Ruby I'm coming!" she called running towards the sound, Pyrrha hesitated before following the blonde.
Red looked around confused, 'what happened to the town and where are Roman and Neo?' Everywhere she looked the houses from the village had been replaced by dead trees and plants surrounded by thorns. 'I've had enough of this,' she thought angrily as she attempted to break the illusion, only to fail as her aura refused to activate. Red felt panic start to rise in her chest as she continued to fail in activating her aura, the forest's silent atmosphere beginning to make her feel uneasy.
"Neo get out here and maybe I won't beat your ice cream ass to next Sunday!" demanded Red, whom got an eerie silence as response.
Growling Red took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, 'ok think there's got to be a way out of this,' she reasoned. Just as she thought this a hedge of thorns split apart in front of her, 'well looks like I'm expected.' Unsheathing Crescent Rose she followed the newly made track until she came across a clearing filled with the first living things she'd seen. The entire clearing was filled with red and black rose bushes, as Red began to examine the plants she heard an all too familiar sound. Red began shaking as a low growl was heard behind her, spinning around she gripped her scythe tighter as the oily shadows emerged from the woods and began their damning whispers.
"Stay away!" she screamed, swinging the scythe wildly in front of her.
The shadows approached her regardless and the red roses slowly turned black as they came closer, Red kept backing away until she felt her back hit a trunk.
Sliding down the tree Red fell into a fetal position, "you're just illusions, nothing more than smoke and mirrors, you're not real," she began muttering.
We are just as real as you are Red.
Red looked up as the multitude of voices ceased their incessant whispering and watched with a fascinated horror as the shadows began fusing together into a single being. She gasped, the figure standing before looked like someone had taken her form but coloured it completely black with with a white mask covering half her face and glowing red eyes.
"What… what are you?" she asked fearfully.
"Your future," replied the figure grabbing Red's arm.
Red screamed as an unimaginable pain coursed throughout her body before once again everything blacked out and she was sent to the blessed void of unconsciousness.
Roman smiled as he watched Red's eyes glaze over and her scythe fall from her hands as she just stood there staring at nothing, finally despite the complications the plan succeeded. Still with the amount of preparation that went into this it wasn't a surprise that it had worked.
"What did you do to her Neo?" whistled Roman, turning to his partner in crime.
"Trapped her in a nightmare of her own making, they're always more personal and creative than anything I can come up with," grinned the illusionist.
"How long will she be out?" he asked.
"It depends on the person but I'd say at least a couple of hours," she informed him.
Roman nodded and called in for pickup before ordering the evacuation of the White Fang from the village. Sighing in relief the two of them were about to walk off when they heard a scream erupt from behind them. Spinning around showed that Red was on her knees screaming as her aura flared, blasting the two crooks off their feet.
"Neo what the hell is going on?" demanded Roman.
"I don't know this has never happened before!" she shouted back.
Roman growled as he got up, watching as Red's aura began to grow darker until it was almost black. "Damn it, if you want some done right around here," he growled, rushing over to Red before slamming his cane over her head.
The screaming stopped immediately as her aura turned back to normal and she collapsed into his arms. Throwing Red over his shoulder he turned to glare at Neo as their Bullhead arrived.
"Ruby!" cried a voice from behind them.
Sighing Roman turned to see team RWBY and JNPR assembled before him with weapons drawn, each with their own expression of rage in their faces.
"Neo you're slipping," he groaned before his expression brightened, "good thing I had a backup plan."
"Give me my sister and I'll let you keep your manhood," growled the blonde.
Roman smirked, "tempting but I have a better idea, none of you move and your shining knight gets to keep his life," he replied, snapping his fingers.
The Beacon teams gasped as they saw a White Fang grunt drag an unconscious Jaune out from the Bullhead.
"Jaune's alive?" said Pyrrha in disbelief.
"Amazing what illusions can do isn't it? So what's it going to be? Risk his life to try and stop us in your tired state or let us go without a fight?" commented the smug criminal.
Yang looked ready to bash the crook's skull in but was held back by Blake who simply shook her head causing the blonde to look away. Roman smiled as the teams watched him load his two prisoners onto the Bullhead before giving them a wave as they took off leaving the village far behind.
Well there you go I hope you guys liked the chapter, I didn't really have much to go on for Neo's fighting style except lots of fan speculations so sorry if it didn't live up to what you had hoped. It will be better in the future once we actually see Neo fight I promise.