Chapter Twenty: Paradise of Fools.
The five of them had arrived at Beacon about an hour after Neo had done. The mood had been melancholic ever since she had disappeared abruptly, but they had done their best to enjoy their time together anyway. The desserts at The Teaphoon were so tasty that they even got Pyrrha's seal of approval, despite sweet treats not really being her go-to food. Ruby had ordered seconds, because she just had to try what their cookie dough ice cream tasted like.
"It's my favourite thing meeting Neo's favourite thing! There's no way this can go wrong!" She had said. Alas, it had gone wrong. Not the food, however. The food absolutely epitomized deliciousness. And that was the problem. Ruby's eyes were bigger than her stomach and she suffered from the ill effects of overeating because she simply could not leave that bowl half-finished.
"Neo's very strong." Pyrrha had murmured as they stepped onto the campus. "And I don't mean that in a literal sense… even though she is a very skilled combatant."
"…I know." Oberon frowned, glancing towards the floor. "I don't think I'd have been able to do the things she does, if I were raised in the same circumstances."
There was a brief moment of pause, before Thea chimed in. "…It's amazing how well she can communicate without words. Even when I couldn't read her scribbles or see the difference before and after she wrote something… I could always kinda understand what she was trying to say. Well…not at first but…she grew on me."
"…Yeah…muteness." Pyrrha trailed off. In truth, she was still hung up on the fact that Neo's only first-hand memories would have been of Beacon. And then there was what she was going through right now. If Rylee and Oberon were right, these dreams might somehow be her memories. Memories which were now…haunting her, it would seem. And, until now, she'd been bearing those weights by herself. Still, though Neo wasn't part of her team, Pyrrha considered her to be a good friend which she could rely on when things ever got dicey. She was her go-to sparring partner whenever she wanted a challenge. She'd only managed to defeat her a handful of times, whereas Neo had a good win to loss ratio of seven to three. Aside from the other members of her team, she was the one who she spent the most time with outside of lessons.
They decided to sit down on one of the benches in the afternoon sun for a while, in order to enjoy each other's company for a little while longer and give Neo some more time to herself. Their minds each wondered in different directions, seemingly at random, but nobody spoke, perhaps to pay some kind of homage to their mute friend who had brought everyone together. It was a peaceful moment.
"What's your family like, Oberon?" Rylee asked, after about five minutes of silence.
"…Why do you ask?" Oberon replied, raising an eyebrow. "Seems a little strange to be asking me that now, doesn't it? If I tell you, will you tell me something?" Rylee nodded. The man just sighed. "Fine. It's not anything special so don't get your hopes up. I was born into a small countryside in the middle of just about nowhere. It was just me, my parents and two older brothers on a farm which we all worked hard to maintain daily. I was – "
"Wait, you lived on a farm!?" Thea gawked. "You struck me as the sort of person who'd always lived in the big city!"
Oberon sighed. "…As I was saying before you interrupted me… I had no plans of staying there. The world was wide and filled with destructive creatures which we also had to fend off from attacking our livestock. I wanted to make the world a better place and see the world. Above all else, though, I wanted to finally usurp my brothers who did nothing but belittle me all day. Every month, we would go and take our crops to market in a small town, just big enough to have a library. Every time we went, I would take out a small handful of books and read them, before returning them the following month and taking out a new supply. I spent every waking moment of my time at that farm either looking after the livestock and crops, or having my head buried in a book. I studied the world at large and learned how to make useful tools which made working easier and, in turn, gave me more time to read. It only took a year before I had read every book in the library. Some of them I had almost memorised."
"Why did you study so much?" Rylee asked, their helmeted head tilting in confusion.
"Half of it was for pleasure. The other half was so I could prove my worth to my family. I'd been saving up my money to finally buy the components needed to make my weapon. I had the idea when I was reading the book: 'The Warrior with a Thousand Weapons.' It made me want to make a weapon which could adapt to any situation like the one in the book. It's why I made 'Limitless Potential.' When I finally came of age to attend Signal Academy, I presented my father with my inventions, my knowledge, my weapon, and the money needed for travel and enrolment."
"And that was when you attended Signal Academy?" Pyrrha asked. Oberon nodded.
"And the rest, as they say, is history." He concluded, seemingly glad that it was over. "Well, that was the short version of it, but it highlights the key points which you were probably wondering about. Now then, it's time for my question, Rylee."
"I'm not taking off the helmet." They reflexively responded.
"I wasn't going to ask that." Oberon replied, waggling his finger with a smug expression on his face. "Is it true that you were once called 'The Omen of War?'"
Rylee took a long, deep breath, as if someone was asking about their edgy teenager nickname. "I suppose I should have seen that question coming. Yes… unfortunately, I was once known as The Omen of War. I've answered your question."
"Hold on. I want in on this, too." Thea spoke up. "I want to know why you were called 'The Omen of War.' You can ask me a question afterwards."
Rylee buried their helmeted face in their hands and then drew an even longer breath and looked around. "Fine…! If you want to know so badly, I'll tell you. But not here. And you have to swear on your life that you're not going to tell a damn soul. I'll tell you in our dorm." They then glanced to Ruby and Pyrrha who were looking back at them with intense curiosity as they rose to their feet.
The five of them walked towards Team NTRO's dorm room, with various trains of thought buzzing around, but none of them feeling up to talking as they walked. Some of them were guessing what the answer was, whilst the remainder were wondering how best to explain it. They opened the door and walked inside. When they each made themselves comfortable, Rylee closed the door and then unbuttoned their sleeve, before rolling it up and revealing a series of knife-shaped black feathers which jutted painfully out of their skin. They plucked one out and a small bead of blood laid in the place of the feather.
"…I'm a vulture faunus." Rylee simply stated, before sitting down and removing their shoes and socks, revealing the fact that their feet were wrapped in bandages. Upon undoing one such bandage, it revealed that their toenails were, in fact, talons. "Upon my birth, people thought that I would grow up to be some kind of corpse-eater. Or be like some kind of stereotypical cartoon villain. They thought my vulture side would instil upon me a fascination with death. Or, at least, that's what my mother thought. She never did like the idea of me exploring my hobbies. Thought I should just stay home and do what she wanted. I'm glad my father was there to get her off my tail."
"So…were your parents faunus, too?" asked Oberon.
"My father was. He was part badger." Rylee explained. Seeing everyone's face twist in confusion, they took another deep breath. "…I was adopted." Naturally, that cleared up most of the uncertainty.
"…So…you were called 'The Omen of War…' because you're part vulture?" asked Ruby, who had been quietly listening up until now. "That doesn't make much sense. I have silver eyes, but I'm not called the Omen of… err… Grimm?"
"Wait, you have silver eyes?!" Thea exclaimed, derailing Ruby's point entirely, much to Rylee's relief. Oberon and Pyrrha chuckled to themselves whilst Thea sat in shock and Ruby bashfully smiled at her. Rylee was grateful that Thea had accidentally changed the subject because they weren't too comfortable sharing the rest of that story just yet. Before the subject could get shifted back to the matter at hand, Rylee spoke up.
"Alright Thea. I have a question for you!" Rylee grinned, before coming up with something on the spot. "Uhh… how come you can read in both braille and written language?"
Thea shook off her shock and apparent concern regarding Ruby for a moment, before quickly answering the question. "I wasn't born blind, you numbskull."
There was a brief pause for laughter, whilst Rylee just murmured a pitiful: '…Oh.' Thea snickered to herself as well before deciding to expand upon her answer.
"I suppose it's only fair that I explain a little more. I didn't start wearing these bandages until about five years ago, when my life was changed forever in a Grimm attack which…killed both of my parents. After that, I lived with my aunt who helped look after me. I expressed my desire to take revenge on the Grimm and, instead of telling me how stupid of an idea that was, she inspired me to attend Signal Academy. I had only partially developed my semblance back then, but now I can have it up constantly and choose which part of my body I can detect from. I can even see from the perspective of objects I touch. Back on topic, Oberon and I actually knew each other before Beacon, but we didn't really talk much because he was very different to me. I was the broody goth sort, and he was more of the nerdy type."
"So…the Grimm slashed your eyes? How did you manage to survive the attack?" Pyrrha asked, curiously. She leaned in closer, as if to try and peer beyond the bandages. To the warrior's surprise, she watched as Thea raised a hand and began to unwind a section of her bandages, revealing that her left eye had a large diagonal scar across it, as a result of what could have easily been an Ursa or Beowolf swipe. Her eye was closed, giving no indication to what colour it could have been underneath the injured eyelid.
"I was lucky to have made off with such minor injuries, given the circumstances. I survived only by miracle, before I ran away from the scene. In the moment of anguish, I began to develop my semblance, which I used to navigate home." She explained, before beginning to do her bandages back up again. "Since then, I cover my eyes to avoid controversy and help remember that the danger out there is very real, and very scary. I got off lightly that day. The next may not be the same."
"That's very mature of you." Oberon stated, actually giving a compliment for once. He then slowly turned his head towards Neo's curtains and ran his hand across his peculiar metallic cables which connected between his neck and the back of his head. Oberon wondered whether Neo had come back yet. They never got any confirmation of her safe arrival, so she could feasibly be anywhere. As much as he wanted to peek, it wasn't worth risking interrupting whatever she was doing within.
"Think we should try again tomorrow?" Ruby asked. "Since we know a bit more about what's afflicting her, maybe we can sit down and talk to her about it. We have tomorrow off, too."
"Maybe we should get her a therapist." Oberon replied. "I think she's under the impression that she has to do this by herself. But that's not the right mindset. She has us. Thea, Rylee, and I are part of her team. She needs to know that she can lean on us when she can't stand up for herself."
"Hey, I'm here, too!" both Pyrrha and Ruby chimed in unison, before turning to each other and giggling at their unintentional adjoined outburst.
"If I really was in that dream, like Rylee says I was…then maybe having me around to cheer her up will help her get through whatever bad things she's thinking about me… as strange as it is." Ruby smiled, bashfully. She couldn't deny that her involvement in this was rather peculiar. Neo had kinda been stalking her since her arrival in Beacon, then dragged her into a closet tea party for drinks, biscuits, and ice cream, told her to tell her if she sees a renowned criminal, and then rockets herself into said criminal's escape jet with a school locker. And now Neo's having weird dreams of something bad happening to her? It was…kinda endearing, but also very weird, if one thought about it. Even so, Ruby rather liked Neo. She had a good sense of style, was really strong, had a truly interesting semblance, and they both shared the same kind of sweet tooth. It was more of a budding friendship than what she had with Weiss, that was for sure. Sure, they were both sassy ice queens with a lot of class, but Neo had a soft side, whereas Weiss was yet to come out of her snobby shell completely.
"I've been with Neo since she first arrived at Beacon," Pyrrha smiled, casually skipping over the fact that she was the first person to know that Neo was currently afflicted with amnesia. As much as she wanted to tell everyone that fact, she wasn't sure if that would only serve to make the situation somehow worse. "I want to be there for her, too. As a friend and rival, of course." If Neo had wanted people to know about her condition, she would've told them, right? She wasn't sure if the members of her team knew and, if she hadn't told them, there was probably a good reason behind it.
In a moment of complete agreement, they each looked at each other in silence, smiling in firm confidence that they would work united until their friend was back to their normal self. That being said, they couldn't just swish a magic wand and make Neo get her confidence back. It would take time, effort, and faith in one another. Wounds – especially mental wounds – cannot be healed in an instant, despite their world being almost magical by nature. Technology may have developed far, but no amount of medicine could cure trauma, with the exception of euthanasia. But despite the simplicity of this solemn oath to one another to help their friend, things would most definitely become more complicated than they had expected it to be.
As much as Ruby and Pyrrha wanted to stay until Neo was better, they did have their own teams to worry about. Ruby needed to catch up on studying as well as have a word with Blake, since things were yet to be fully settled with her, and Pyrrha had her usual 'special training' with someone exceptionally special to her. And so, they bid each other farewell until tomorrow.
Oberon, Thea, and Rylee sat in contemplation of each other for a moment. It felt nice to finally share a little about themselves, but now they had to prepare for tomorrow. Study, train, and plan. Pandemonium and hysteria spread like wildfire the following day when Thea attempted to coax Neo out for breakfast, only to find that she was not there. Attempts to message her were met with radio silence. Though silence was their leader's MO, this was definitely out of the ordinary. Usually, she left a message behind or at least responded promptly to messages. Completely disappearing was great cause for alarm. They looked around all over the campus but found no trace of her.
They were about to contact the school faculty about her disappearance when there was a knock at the door. Rylee almost ripped the door off of its hinges when they opened it in desperation, hoping to see their leader again. However, they didn't find her. Instead, standing in the doorway, was a woman who was all too familiar. Rylee's metallic visage met with the stern, but oddly melancholy gaze of Professor Goodwitch.
"Good afternoon." She spoke, addressing the three remaining members of the group who were already paying their utmost attention to her. "I apologise for not informing you earlier. Regrettably, it was an afterthought to the headmaster. I'm sure you've noticed the departure of Miss Politan…"
"Departure? Did she…drop out of Beacon?" Thea asked, raising an eyebrow. A sudden pang of grief rang through the air as the three considered how they could go forward without their lead. Naturally, their sorrow turned to outrage when Glynda replied: 'Worse… She's been…imprisoned.'
The silence that followed was so deafening, it was like Neo was already back. Everyone's head was racing with possibilities. How could this have happened? What did she do? When did she do it? Why did nobody tell them anything? Oberon was the first to speak, after about five seconds of stillness.
"What is she accused of?" He asked, his tone seemingly unconvinced. An eyebrow was raised, sceptically, as if he were a parent who had been called into the principal's office because of their usually well-behaved child's conduct. Glynda had to take a moment to clear her throat and withdraw a small sheet of paper from her breast pocket, which she began to unfurl.
"Allegedly…she trespassed on military grounds, broke and entered, committed four acts of first-degree murder, approximately seventy acts of manslaughter, broke a high-profile criminal from their confines, and, finally, committed arson by burning down military property."
There was another brief pause of disbelief, but it was much shorter because Thea and Rylee practically exploded.
"Are you kidding me!? There's no way Neo did any of that!" Thea exclaimed, slamming her palms on the table with enough force to cause the walls to shake. "Neo's not some murderer! She is our friend! The fact that you expect me to accept that she's been some evil criminal, this whole time, speaks volumes!" Her hands had curled into fists and her pearly whites flashed as if she were some kind of beast or lycanthrope. Her fury was almost tangible. It was the angriest anyone had seen her.
"This is some kind of joke, right? Are you playing a prank on us? You can't be serious!" Rylee responded, clearly in disbelief but not shouting as loudly or as angrily as Thea had been. If anything, it was odd that the two had seemingly switched roles, with the quiet and reserved one being the shouter and the blunt and feisty one being the quieter of the two. "You can come out now, Neo. You really pranked us…" They mumbled, hoping that this was all just some kind of trick.
Stranger still was how Oberon was deathly silent throughout the explanation and consequent freakouts. He was taking the news surprisingly well…or was incredibly good at masking his turmoil.