OK So I feel bad about going so long of an update between chapter 2 and 3 so here is the fourth chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Neo sat in a very bland looking forest green chair. She shifted uncomfortably as she sat next to Cardin. Both had not said a word to each other. Both teens jumped as there was a bang of a door slamming shut. Neo turned to look at the door behind her. Maybe she could see through the glass panel but as per usual, she was to short to see anything.
"Where is my son Ozpin?!" The small girl decided to gaze around the room in hopes she could maybe drown out the sound of a shouting mother. The enclosed space had pale gray walls that made the room seem slightly intimidating as the two windows that were connecting the room from the outside of the building were blocked by large blinds. The mahogany desk loomed in the center of the room. A large computer sat on top of it with a few files on it.
"Please Mrs. Winchester, we would like you to wait until Ms. Fall arrives." The files on the desk were complete opposites in many ways. The large, beat up, and overflowing file had to be Cardin's. The other file was crisp and clean with hardly any width at all. That one was Neo's. She had never been called down to the Principal in her life.
"Perfect! One of those delinquents!" Cardin snorted slightly at his mother's accusations. Neo just ignored him and looked at the ticking clock on the wall. It had no numbers on it's face, just two hands and a bunch of gears. The clock seemed to say 12:48 if the small girl had to guess.
"Now now Mrs. Winchester, it's not like that. We want to go over the whole situation." Neo looked at the large chair. How big was the Principal anyway? She had never seen him before, she had only knew of how worried Yang got when he was brought up. Based on Yang's fear and the large chair and desk, Neo started to sweat out of nervousness. She started to play with her sleeves again.
"What situation?! My precious boy was savagely attacked!" Neo looked at her hands. She only hit him twice. That didn't exactly count as a 'savage attack'.
"Sorry I'm late! Lunch hour traffic got in the way! Where is Neo?" Neo heard Cinder's voice and her breathing started to change. Her breaths started to become quicker and shorter. Why couldn't her lungs intake any oxygen? It started to bring tears to her eyes. The small girl couldn't figure out if the tears were from fear or disappointment.
"Both Neo and Cardin are sitting in my office as we speak. Will you two please accompany me?" Neo froze when she heard the doorknob turn. She stared at her hands as the three adults shuffled in.
"Cardin sweetie! My poor precious baby! That bruise looks like it hurts." Mrs. Winchester started to coddle her son.
"I'm fine mother." Cardin told her with a hint of feeling hurt in his voice.
Neo felt two hands grip her shoulders gently. In her peripheral vision she saw her mother kneel down in front of her. The multi color haired girl couldn't suppress her shaking as she could feel her mother's gaze on her.
"Look at me." Cinder commanded. Neo clenched her fists and bowed her head even more. She felt hot tears roll down her face. "Neo. Look at me." Cinder repeated.
The small girl finally mustered all of the courage she had and tilted her head up slightly to meet her mother's eyes. To her surprise Cinder's expression wasn't anger or disappointment. It was a concerned one.
"I-I," Neo started but before she could finish Cinder drew her into a close hug. After some hesitation, Neo wrapped her arms around her mother. "I-I d-d-didn't-"
"Shhhh." Cinder murmured softly. "Don't get yourself too worked up. This will be over soon." She whispered and planted a kiss on the top of the small girl's head. The black haired woman pulled away before standing up and looking towards the Principal.
"First things first, Mr. Winchester and Ms. Torchwick were called down because a physical altercation that occurred in their Physical Education class this morning." Ozpin started. "I have already received Coach Qrow's input but would like to hear my student's point of view on what happened. Neo would you please go first?"
Neo slowly raised her gaze towards Ozpin. The small girl couldn't help but stare. He was not the huge man she had imagined. Her principal was rather thin and lanky. He had loose gray hair and a pair of black wire glasses that cover calm hazel eyes.
"U-uhm. W-when we were pl-playing dodgeball, C-Cardin st-started saying m-mean things."
"And what were these means things?" Ozpin asked while folding his hands on his desk.
"This should be good." Mrs. Winchester muttered.
Neo could only look at Cardin's mother. She had long straight hair that was a little paler than Cardin's. She also seemed to have the same exact body type as her son.
"Go on Neo." Cinder told her daughter.
The multi color haired girl took a shaky breath before continuing. "H-he called a b-boy named Rudy a fr-freak b-because he's a-a faunus. Th-Then he c-called a-a faunus girl tr-trash."
Ozpin opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off by Cardin jumping out of his seat. "Liar! I'm not racist!"
"How could you accuse my son of that?" Mrs. Winchester asked glaring at Neo. "This is obviously a stunt pulled by this delinquent!"
"That delinquent is my daughter!" Cinder barked at the other woman.
"Then she can fit in with the rest of your litter!"
"Mrs. WInchester! Ms. Fall!" Ozpin stood up. "I will not tolerate this. Let Neo finish before you make any more outbursts. I would like for all of us to listen to this. Cardin please sit down." Neo looked at the ground. "Now, what happened after these things were said?"
"I-I shouted. I-I told C-Cardin t-to leave them a-alone. H-he then t-told me to not t-talk to him like that." Neo took another breath, finally getting comfortable with talking. "Then I-"
The door behind them opened abruptly. "Short stuff basically told him to fuck off." Neo turned to see Qrow.
"This is not the time." Ozpin deadpanned.
Qrow shrugged. "I'm just letting the girl catch her breath." The tall coach turned to Mrs. Winchester. "Cardin then started to make fun of short stuff's stutter and eye color. Called her a mutant. After that, Torchwick did one of the best right hooks I've ever seen. Cardin shoved her to the ground, she tripped him and Cardin started swinging."
"Impossible! The girl doesn't have a scratch on her!" Mrs. Winchester objected.
"That's because he never hit her. She dodged all of his punches. Short stuff did get one more hit in on his abdomen. Then I broke it up. End of story." Qrow finished. Neo looked at her teacher with gratitude. "Got it all on tape." Qrow told them and handed a cd to Ozpin.
Cardin sat in his seat white as a qhost. Ozpin simply put the cd in his computer and watched the clip. Neo looked at her mother trying to read her emotion. Cinder however looked rather bored with this whole thing.
"Well, it seems this is a classic case of someone standing up for themselves after being bullied. And since Mrs. Torchwick has one of the cleanest records to ever come across my desk," Ozpin eyed the small girl. "I'm giving you a warning." Neo took a sigh of relief. "Now as for Cardin, we do not accept discrimination against faunus or anyone for that matter. But I will let Coach Qrow decide your punishment."
"How can you let this slide?" Mrs. Winchester asked dumbfounded. "She assaulted my son!"
"And she had perfectly fine reason to." Cinder finally spoke up. "I have always raised my kids to stand up for themselves." The golden eyed woman glared at the opposing mother. "I'm proud of her."
"Now Ms. Fall we don't encourage violence." Ozpin pointed out.
"Can you really blame her though? She was blatantly getting verbally attacked. Hell I would've hit him sooner than she did." Cinder shrugged.
Qrow smirked and crossed his arms. "You haven't changed a bit." He grumbled.
Ozpin stood up. "This matter has been tended too. I believe it is best to take Cardin and Neo home. They had a rough day." The hazel eyed principal looked at both students and mothers. "Wouldn't you agree?"
Cinder nodded. "You heard the man. We're leaving." Neo stood up and grabbed her bag and silently followed her mother.
"This won't be the last you heard of me Fall." Mrs. Winchester growled at the other woman. Cinder simply shrugged and raised her middle finger.
The car ride home was very quiet. Neo peered out the window avoiding all eye contact or any contact with her mother. She was still petrified of what Cinder would say to her now that they were away from that Principal's office. In a sick way, Neo wanted to go back. After a few more minutes, Cinder pulled into the driveway. The small girl quickly unlocked the car door and opened it to get out.
"Stay." Cinder told her as she cut the engine.
Neo closed the door and turned. "I-"
"No. I'm talking first." Cinder ordered. Neo simply looked at her feet. "Now, look me in the eye and answer me. You were having a panic attack when I walked in weren't you?"
The multi color haired girl looked at Neo and nodded. "Yes. I've never been in trouble a-and I was sc-scared." Neo admitted.
Cinder nodded. "That's what I thought." She simply stated. "What part scared you?" She asked.
Neo didn't answer right away. She looked at the ground again. The answer was simple but the one word answer wouldn't leave her lips.
"You."
The black haired woman nodded. "I figured."
An uncomfortable silence filled the vehicle.
"Do you remember when Mercury was in seventh grade and he got in trouble for pushing that kid off the bleachers?" Neo finally asked.
"Too well. That's when his teacher suggested I take him to anger management classes."
"What happened today reminded me of that." Neo told her mother finally looking up.
"Are you telling me you want to go to anger management classes because of one fight?" Cinder asked raising an eyebrow.
Neo chuckled slightly. "No." She answered and then ran a hand through her hair. "He pushed that kid because the kid was saying bad things about Emerald. It was a rush of instinct. I felt like that. Even if I wanted to stop myself, I couldn't because I wanted to protect Rudy and that rabbit girl." Neo admitted.
Cinder couldn't help but smile. "Hate to break it to you but all three of you got that from me."
Neo smiled too. Tears once again spilled from her eyes. "I'm sorry. I really shouldn't have hit him .Go ahead and punish me. I deserve it."
The tall woman simply leaned over and wiped the tears off her daughter's face. "This is one of the many reasons I'm ecstatic that you're a little different from your siblings." Cinder started and tilted Neo's chin so they could see eye to eye. Neo could have sworn there was something different in her mother's eyes. "You stood up for something that you believed was right. You are willing to accept what you did something wrong and take responsibility for what happened. You dealt with a situation that almost sent you into a severe panic attack. I am so proud of you." She told Neo and hugged her once more.
Neo smiled and stayed in the embrace. It had been so long since she was hugged by her mother like this. "I love you." Neo told her.
Cinder smiled. "I love you too baby girl." She answered. The black haired woman then pulled away and got out of the car. Neo simply followed suit and grabbed her bag. "Now," Cinder laid her arm across her daughter's shoulders. "Who taught you to fight?"
"Mercury did. Before you and dad got divorced because he said he couldn't protect me while I was gone."
"He's a good kid." Cinder responded.
Neo could only giggle slightly. "When he wants to be."
"That is way to accurate."
Yay! I really like this chapter. I really wanted Neo and Cinder to start opening up to each other a little because they don't have that much interaction in the show and wanted to really build a solid relationship of how they would interact in this world. I figured that Neo and Cinder would have a mutual respect for each other because of their technical abilities and that they would honestly get along. Well hope you liked it and can't wait to post more!