"Ugghhh! I feel like I died." Jaune groans as he opens his eyes to the afternoon sky and the sounds of the ocean.

"Is this hell?" the knight wonders aloud as he lies down on the wet sand looking at the sky above.

The ocean answers the question by dropping a small wave on the blonde, soaking him. Water enters Jaune's nose, waking his body up with a jumpstart. He sits up quickly and tries to blow the saltwater out of his nose.

'Probably not dead' the knight figures, shaking his head rapidly to help dry his hair.

Jaune gets to his feet looking at his surroundings. To his sides lies sand for miles and in front of him is what is probably a very large forest. Jaune's view of what might be inside is obscured by the thick foliage. Looking for any landmark that he could head towards Jaune tilts his head to see what might be in there.

Luckily, Jaune doesn't have to do much searching. A giant tree stands above everything. Even being as far away as Jaune is he can tell the tree is colossal near the size of a mountain. Jaune stares in awe at the tree as one thought pops into his mind.

'Hell is really weird…'

Jaune shakes himself out of his stupor and does the first thing that comes to mind. He reaches to his hip for Crocea Mors. Feeling the familiar presence of the heirloom Jaune breathes a sigh of relief.

Next he starts patting himself down for his scroll and to check for any injuries. Eventually making his way to the front pockets of his jeans and feeling something crunch. Reaching inside he feels several small pieces of something in his pocket.

"Please don't let this be my scroll. Please don't let it be my scroll. please don't let it be my scroll…" Jaune pleads for the brothers mercy just this once. Jaune finally pulls out the pieces of metal and dust from his pocket.

"Damn it." Jaune looks at the many pieces of scroll in his hand. "I have the worst luck!"

Somewhere in another world. A Qrow sneezes.

Jaune chucks the fragments of his scroll towards the wilderness unsuccessfully as a sudden gust of wind blows the pieces right back into the knight's face.

'Breathe Jaune, It could be worse. Now what should you do?' Jaune inhales deeply and closes his eyes to calm down and search his mind before deciding on a plan. 'I should check the beach for any sign of team RWBY. If I can't find any of them then start heading towards the big tree.'

Jaune, happy with his new plan, turns to his left looking at the vast expanse of sand in front of him. 'We'll get out of here. I know it.' Jaune says silently as he unknowingly takes his first steps towards his new future.

(45 minutes later)

Jaune walks along the beach trying to remember exactly how he ended up in this strange place. Soon the memories start flashing back through his head. One by one team RWBY falls. His sword, covered in Penny's blood. Fighting Cinder. Crocea Mors shattered against the maiden's glass weapon. He remembers running as fast as he could towards the exit, towards Vacuo and his teammates. Once again being too late and falling for so long through the void and passing through what almost looks like the night sky…

Jaune remembers waking up while falling. His eyes spotting a star falling beside him, he tries to get closer to get a better look but as his eyes start to focus on the flaming ball he already knows what is falling with him. Crescent Rose…

For what feels like hours to Jaune the knight searches for anything and finds nothing. 'I've combed through the sand searching this way and I haven't even seen a hint of Ruby.' Jaune thinks back once again to his fall. 'Crescent Rose was right next to me as I fell, but all I've seen is just sand and rocks. Maybe I should head the other way and see if I can find any sign of them on the other side of the beach. Ruby will be sad about Crescent Rose but it's much more important to find them and make sure that they're safe, then we can decide what to do next.' Jaune stops momentarily to mentally prepare himself to see a sad Ruby before going back to his search…

Soon something catches Jaune's eye. Something long sticks out of the sand a few hundred feet near to the treeline. Brain and body freeze in excitement before he regains his bearings and sprints for the object kicking up sand in his wake. As he gets closer and really gets to see the object, the blonde knight slows to a halt as he stares at the object in front of him.

"That's not Ruby's" Jaune whispers in astonishment. His gaze fixed on the armament stuck in the sand.

In front of Jaune, partially embedded in the shore is a parasol. To most people this wouldn't be very frightening. But to Jaune this might as well be the reaper's instrument. A tool that has helped its owners cut down dozens, maybe even hundreds of souls, that got in her way. The woman who owns this may be more deserving of the title of reaper than even Death himself…

'Fighting Red. I had her. If Cinder would've just pulled me back up I could have finished her off.' Memories snap back into Neo's mind 'Slipping off the edge. No, pushed off the edge. More fighting. She escaped. No, I let her go but there was no escape. We both fell. No escaping that, for either of us. Maybe I can see Roman again…'

Pink and Brown eyes finally open up to a bright sky and the sound of the ocean 'Is this hell?' the mute wonders, getting up from her position on the ground, and checking out her surroundings. 'Hell is really weird' Neo says to herself while taking in the greenery surrounding her, before she realizes this probably isn't hell and if she lived someone else might have too, a grimace sets itself on the mutes face.

Neo soon starts to ponder on what she should do next. Before starting to make a to-do list in her head.

'- Figure out where I am

-Find Red

-Kill Red (MOST IMPORTANT ONE)

-Find Hush

-Find Red's friends

-Kill Red's friends

-Success'

Neo memorizes her list and smiles knowing how good of a list it is. 'First order of business… Find out where I am.' Neo starts to think about how she could find out where exactly she might be.

'I can hear the ocean. It would be pretty weird for Hell to have an ocean, but it's probably the easiest way of figuring out where I am.' Neo decides to follow the sound of the sea. Soon she finds what she's looking for. the beach, ocean, and a knight? Neo does a double take at the last thing she spotted.

'Why is he here?' Neo wonders, looking at the knight, a smile spreads across her face as her sight wanders to what the knight is staring so intently at. 'It looks like I can cross something off of my list already.' Neo's smile widens as she thinks about what she could do with the knight. 'Finding Red just got a lot easier.' And Jaune's life just got a lot more complicated…

Neo jumps out of the treeline towards the knight. Jaune jerks back in surprise as Neo dives right past him and grabs her parasol. Jaune responds quickly by pulling Crocea Mors off of his side. With the screech of metal on metal he rips the broken and bloodied sword out of its sheath, deploying the shield and getting in a defensive stance.

Neo freezes momentarily, spotting the blood on the weapon before looking back towards the huntsman. She grins at the nervous Jaune and adjusts her grip on her recently re-acquired weapon. An inaudible click followed by a short blade popping out of the end of the instrument signals the start of the fight.

Neo makes the first move lunging at Jaune with a stab that is quickly knocked to the side by his shield and followed up by a swing of his sword that misses entirely due to its new length. Neo uses the momentum she gained from the block and twirls behind the surprised teen and places a kick to his back causing Jaune to stumble and fall in the sand.

Jaune rolls over quickly as Neo capitalizes on the fallen knight and goes for a stab to his neck, but Jaune is just barely fast enough once again. moving his shield to once again knock Hush away and into the sand. Spotting the opportunity Jaune brings his legs up and plants his boots in the stomach of Neo launching her away. Jaune, knowing he probably has little time, scrambles quickly to his feet using his few moments to get ready and think of a way to beat the tiny assassin…

Neo uses the momentum from the kick to roll back onto her feet. The girl uses the distance to re-evaluate how to take out her opponent. 'He has size and strength on his side, but also a broken weapon' Neo astutely observes. 'He also has armor, and probably more aura than me. What do I have?' Neo wonders before a smile stretches across her face 'My semblance.'

Across from Neo similar thoughts run through Jaune's head 'How do I beat her?' Jaune stares down his enemy 'She's faster and more experienced than me. My sword is broken meaning she also has the range advantage. What do I have?' The teen looks down at the two halves of his weapon before an idea pops into his head. 'Crocea Mors last trick'

Jaune acts first. Not by attacking the mute assassin but instead transforming his shield back into its form of a sheath and quickly sliding the bloodied and broken blade home. Jaune lifts up the sheathed weapon and places his left hand on the base of the handle causing the outside of the sheath to slide forward turning the broken sword and weathered shield into a more complete longsword.

Neo, seeing Jaune make the first move, sprints towards her foe and conjures an image of her going for another stab. Jaune, not knowing the attack is an illusion, swings to redirect the attack with his new weapon.

Jaune realizes his mistake too late as Neo shatters like glass and the real Neo reappears in his guard. Neo uses the surprise to take another shot at his throat, but by some odd turn of luck the young knight stumbles once again, tripping in the sand and narrowly dodging the blade.

Neo steps on the downed Arc with her blade pointed to his neck ensuring bad things if he tries to get up. She inspects the prone form beneath her. Usually deep blue eyes look back up in fear at Neo. His damp blonde hair lies almost flat against his head. Her eyes travel down his form and towards his weapon. Sword gripped tightly in a shaky right hand. His left hand grabbing onto the beach in fear.

'Should probably get rid of his weapon' Neo realizes stomping on the sword hand of Jaune multiple times to get him to release his hold on his weapon. After driving her heel into the hand of the knight beneath her 8 or so times, he finally lets go of the heirloom. The mute kicks the weapon a short distance away before turning her focus back to the enemy…

Jaune looks up at Neo. Half of her face is blocked by the shade from the hat atop her head, but her eyes still pierce deep into his own. He curls his fingers into a fist as he looks back up trying to meet the gaze of the woman who will be his death.

'I can't go out like this.' The blonde's gaze hardens as he tries to think up a quick plan to deal with Neopolitan before an idea hits him in the face.

Grabbing a fistful of sand he flings it in the eyes of Neo. This to no one but Jaunes surprise does not have the intended effect of temporarily blinding the girl. it instead has the effect of making the target of his sand attack very very angry.

"Aura…" The teen mutters before the first punch lands like a meteor on his cheek. 'Know what? I probably deserved that.' Jaune sighs watching the girl cock her fist back again…

Neo stares down in bewilderment at the boy below her before the emotion is quickly exchanged for fury, but not for the reasons you might think. Neo is much less angry about the fact that Jaune tried to pull a cheap trick on her and more so extremely offended that he actually thought such a simple move would work against someone like her who has benefited from using cheap tricks for most of her life.

'Idiot' The girl thinks before stabbing the weapon into the sand next to her and delivering a haymaker to the cheek of said idiot. Neo rains down punches on the boy's face, Jaune not even bothering to defend himself.

Her anger at the blonde beneath her subsides but punches keep raining down upon his head as Neo realizes she's found a good way of releasing the pent up emotions from these last couple years into something satisfying and cathartic; like beating the shit out of a certain Jaune Arc while sobbing.

Neo finally stops her assault to take a breath and look down on the figure beneath her. Nose broken, face bloodied and eyes swollen shut Jaune Arc lies unconscious, his breathing labored but also steady.

'He has a hell of an aura if he's only knocked out and not dead.' Neo acknowledges 'Now… what should I do with him?' Neo adjusts her legs to sit more comfortably on the knight's unconscious body and thinks about what to do with her new chair…

'You should probably kill him' Her logical inner voice says before another one speaks up. This time taking the voice of Roman.

'You could kill the kid… but he also could probably lead you to Red.' The "new" voice in her head points out.

'How would he even know where she is, and why would he help?' Neo snipes back silently to imaginary Torchwick.

'He was up and moving before you were, Maybe he saw where they landed. For your other point; it doesn't matter if he wants to tell you, because you can make him tell you.' Roman shoots back

'It would be easier to just kill him, and work from there.' The logical voice in her head interjects before being silenced by Neo.

'If he does know though I could make him cough it up and then I could kill him. Best of both worlds' Neo replies to the figments of her imagination both agreeing before fading back into silence…

"smack… Smack. SMACK!"

Jaune slowly starts to open his eyes. Gazing up at the same sky that was right above him. He wonders if the last 30 minutes was a dream. One final strike to his already damaged face confirms that it was not in fact a dream and he did get the shit beat out of him.

Jaune squeezes his swollen eyes shut and instinctively raises what's left of his aura as he sees his alarm clock wind up another slap. Slowly opening up his eyes when a slap doesn't come. He sees Neo still on top of his chest and a thought immediately comes to his mind. 'Why didn't she kill me?'

"SMACK!"

Jaune's head rocks to the side as Neo silently laughs looking down on Jaune. Jaune slowly turns his head back to face his captor, and starts using his aura to heal the damage that the criminal inflicted on his face. Bruises cuts and welts start to disappear. Jaune's nose slowly unflattens and his jaw snaps back into place. The bones in his nose start to piece themselves back together with wet noises and a pained cry from the young Arc…

Neo watches the boy writhe in pain beneath her amusement filling her eyes. Neo only enjoys the boy's pain for a brief moment before taking her scroll out and fiddling with it for a couple seconds.

The final piece of Jaune's nose fixes itself into place with a meaty crunch. Neo turns her focus back to Jaune making sure he's not doing anything before lifting her scroll back up to start typing a message.

"Of course her scroll is fine while mine is in a million pieces." Jaune groans, causing the girl to once again look up from the device and towards Jaune before she looks back down at her scroll and holds her thumb to the screen for a second.

Why didn't you kill me while I was sleeping?" Neo takes her eyes off of the screen again and raises a hand and her index finger in front of her mouth…

Jaune immediately shuts his mouth as he realizes the distracted Neo could be an opportunity to come up with another plan. 'How can I get out of this?' Jaune looks around him to see Crocea Mors lying in the sand out of reach. 'That ends that idea. What else is there near me?' Jaune looks towards his left and sees Hush still stuck in the sand near his knee.

'You aren't that stupid.' Jaune starts to slowly move his arms and hands around sliding across the sand looking for a weapon. His search is stopped by a scroll being shoved into his face. Jaune, surprised by the object, squints to let his eyes adjust to the scroll and starts to read what's on the screen.

I kept you alive because I think you might have something I want.

Jaune reads the first note wondering what he could possibly have that Neo would want from him.

You're probably wondering what you have that I could want. I want to know where Ruby Rose is.

'Well. That answers that question'

If you tell me I promise to make your death much quicker than if you dont

If you can lead me to them I would like that. I've seen how much they care about you and it would probably hurt them a lot more if I killed you in front of them.

6. Whether you help or dont I WILL kill you

7. There is no negotiating. You are just here to help me.

Jaune reads through the rest of the list. Shifting his body slightly and cocking his head to the side to look at Neo. Jaune, now trying to make eye contact with Neo without looking suspicious, starts answering her questions.

"For your first, second, and fourth question I can answer that. I don't remember exactly where ruby landed but I can probably lead you to the general area. For the third point, I would prefer not dying." Jaune speaks in as calm a voice he can manage while trying to search for the object that caught his eye without Neo noticing.

"It seems like you're missing 5." Neo glares at Jaune. " Know what? Not important. Now onto 6. Kind of redundant. And finally 7…" Jaune finally grasps the object. "I think I have more room than you'd think." confusion spreads across Neo's face and Jaune takes the opportunity to swing his new weapon.

A dull crack sounds as the rock connects with Neo's head. Her body crumples onto his chest like a puppet with its strings cut. Jaune exhales in relief not even realizing he was holding his breath

Jaune looks at the rock in his hand stunned. "I can't believe that worked."

Jaune rolls the limp body of Neo off of him and onto her back. Getting to his feet Jaune pulls Hush out from the sand and hooks it to his belt loop before looking at the girl. Her eyes are slightly opened and unfocused, her form seemingly unmoving as she lays in the sand.

"Oh my gods, is she breathing?" Jaune reacts nearly immediately. He drops by Neo and begins to watch for chest movements. After a few very tense moments of waiting Jaune sees the slight rise and fall of her chest and thanks the gods he didn't kill her.

'Why do you care? Wouldn't the better option be for her to die anyways?' a dark part of his mind speaks. 'You could make this a lot easier on yourself if you kill her and be on your way.'

Jaune tries shaking the thoughts out of his head but the voice continues. 'If you want you can just leave her here on the beach. Then if she dies you can say that it wasn't your fault. It wouldn't be that hard to throw her weapon into the ocean and leave. No one would know, and even if you tell them they wouldn't care.'

"I would know and I would care" Jaune responds out loud " Leaving her here like this isn't the right thing to do."

'I agree. The better option would be to kill her. You've killed people much more innocent than her. This shouldn't be even half as hard.' Jaune recoils slightly at what is implied by the presence.

"Lives aren't just things you can end without care." Jaune argues not seeing the irony of who he's defending.

'I don't think your guest would agree. She's killed many and was going to torture and kill you in front of your friends before you took action…'

Jaune grudgingly admits silently to himself that it may have a point.

'Of course I have a point.' The voice sounds almost offended. 'It wouldn't even be that hard. You can do it. Just one more hit . If you want you can close your eyes.'

"Who even are you?" Jaune asks trying hard to ignore the suggestion just made

'I'm the dark and intrusive thoughts that you push to the back of your mind. After you killed Penny. Something snapped in your mind. You saw a monster in the reflection. I am that piece of your mind given voice by you. I have no power nor is my sentience even real.' The voice seems to wriggle around in his head, like it's trying to find a place to make itself comfortable

"If you're in my head why can't I shut you up then?" Jaune asks annoyed

'Because a small part of your mind believes that you are a monster, and that part keeps you listening to 're smart enough to know how to get rid of me but as of now you and I don't think you can.'

Jaune's eyes narrow "It's that simple?"

'It seems that way but sometimes the simplest tasks are the hardest to complete.'

"I already know how to win though?"

'A lot easier to make a plan than execute one, but last I checked you seem to specialize in executions.' The voice laughs, finishing the conversation, and sinking back into the depths of Jaunes mind.

Jaune shakes his head and tries forgetting the very weird discussion he had with himself by focusing back on the sleeping form in front of him. Jaune for the first time really starts to observe Neo.

Neo's usually fair complexion is marred by tear stained eyes. Her usually striking chocolate and strawberry eyes bloodshot and unfocused. A grimace in place of her usual confident smirk and a nasty bruise forming on her cheek from where he struck her.

Guilt strikes Jaune as he stares at the prone form of the girl. He remembers what Ruby told him about her. Her partner was taken from her in the fall of Beacon. She lost the most important person and wasn't able to save them. Doesn't matter if she's a criminal, nobody deserves to lose the most important person in their life even if that person is Roman Torchwick.

'She has still taken it too far. She is trying to kill you and your friends just to satisfy her hunger for revenge.' Once again the voice makes itself known. "Revenge that should be aimed towards Cinder. It would be better to kill her before she kills you, and those you care about.' Jaune thinks about how the break was much shorter than he would've liked it to be.

"Is her revenge any different from me going after Cinder?" Jaune hisses back to himself.

The voice scoffs. 'how is it in any way the same as what you've done?'

"Why are you defending me?" Jaune asks the presence.

'Because I'm you, and dying isn't very high on the to-do list. Keeping her alive is probably the quickest way to end up dead.'

"Why do I have to kill her? Can't I keep her alive until I find team RWBY " The teen questions.

'...' The voice goes silent not dignifying what Jaune just said with a response.

"Exactly" Jaune answers thinking he won the argument and looks back down at Neopolitan, trying to think of a plan to deal with her.

After around 2 minutes of ideas Jaune finally decides on what he should do. Sighing, he starts to remove his belt. Lifting the limp arms of Neo up, Jaune wraps the belt around her wrist several times before tightening it and sliding the prong of the belt into one of the notches. Jaune then lifts the girl onto his shoulder. He then leans down to grab Crocea Mors and attaches it to the gauntlet. "Time to get moving." He breathes and trudges into the treeline.

Authors Note:

This is the first chapter of my first story.

Updates will probably be a bit sporadic. Please give feedback positive and (especially) negative. I want to get better and criticism is extremely welcome. I don't know if I want to make this a romance but if I do it will probably be much later. I plan on using this story as both practice and to tell a story I thought would be fun. Neo getting knocked out by a cheap trick was on purpose because I thought it would be funny after having her "say" that cheap tricks wouldn't work on her.

Hope you guys have a great day!