Next chapter. This one is a bit darker than before since it delves into some of Ruby's trauma from her bad timeline. That and it shows that she's hiding a lot under that happy (and horny) exterior.

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Neo was a monster. That was something she'd heard a lot over the years. From her parents, her 'friends', to the people she killed. They all said the same thing. She was a monster.

She remembered being called that a kit when she was just a kid. Little monster, Mom and Dad would call her. They hated her. Hated how she couldn't talk, how she wasn't a meek little princess like the other girls. They'd done their best to 'fix' her. Tried to get her to talk and stop acting out. When that failed, they washed their hands of her. At least we don't have to deal with that little monster anymore, Dad said.

They were more right than they knew. When she accidentally burned her house down, leaving her parents trapped in the inferno, she didn't feel guilty. The books always talked about how she'd feel at least some degree of empathy given that her parents were her blood, but there was nothing. Just a teenage girl who watched without a sound as her house burned and left no trace of who she used to be.

Roman was the only one she gave a shit about in this fucked up world. She'd burn down all of Vale and everyone inside it if it meant saving him. Maybe that did make her a monster, but she didn't care. She didn't see the point of pretending otherwise. Roman was the only one who cared about her. For him, she'd watch all of Remnant sink so long as the two of them could keep going.

And then he was taken from her.

She grit her teeth and let out a silent growl. He wasn't dead, but he might as well have been. She knew Roman. He was a lot of things - a thief, a scoundrel, a killer - but more than anything, he was a survivor. Even when that bitch Cinder caught them and forced them to be her lackeys, he bided his time. Once Vale fell they'd just set up shop Mistral or Atlas and start it all over again. They could do it.

When she'd broken into the prison to get him out, she thought they could just pick up where they left off. She'd seen him claw his up from nothing, seen him fight against impossible odds against entire crime families and come out on top. Now he was just...broken. There was nothing but fear and submission in his eyes. Any attempts to try and get him out were met with utter refusal to give his tormentor a reason to come after him again and catch her in the crossfire.

Seeing Roman after what Rose did to him...he might as well have been dead. He refused to come with her no matter what she tried to do. Even worse, that bitch Cinder didn't give a fuck. She figured there was a chance for Roman to get caught and included it in whatever fucking plan she had. She even told Neo to leave him there 'or else'. Of course, she didn't listen, but the choice was taken out of her hands.

Ruby Rose...even thinking of that little red riding fuck's name made her blood boil. Roman got into a fight with her weeks ago in front of that Dust shop and didn't think much of it. Just another teenager fighting to be tossed aside as fodder for the Grimm, he said. Neo had to agree. The Huntsmen were all suicidal idiots fighting in a rat race to be the first to get eaten by the Grimm.

So she was more than a little surprised when the same little girl was the one who took out not only Roman but the rest of the White Fang too. Not that anyone else knew that, of course. He'd been tight-lipped with the cops about who exactly it was that beat him. At first, she thought it was out of pride. No one would respect him if they knew who'd taken down the infamous Roman Torchwick. It was only later that she realized that it came from a place of fear that trumped even what he felt for Cinder. Neo was the only one who knew, and he'd begged her to not pick that fight.

Fuck. That.

As soon as she knew the bitch's name, she did everything she could to figure out how to get back at her.

Unfortunately for her, it wasn't easy. No mom, and both her dad and uncle were veteran Huntsmen with nearly two decades of experience. Her older sister was a Huntress in training, but both she and Rose were students at Beacon. As much as she hated to admit it, even she had her limits. Beacon was a fortress. There was a reason Roman never thought about doing a heist there. Even if they succeeded, they'd have every Huntsman in Vale - and possibly beyond that - out for their blood. Not even they could survive that.

Which meant Neo had to wait. Even worse, she knew that she couldn't attack Rose in public. Neo was confident in her skills - there was a reason Roman called her the muscle between the two of them - but a fight in the open meant other Huntsman getting involved. And then Cinder would get pissed since she drew attention to herself and she'd have that psychotic bitch on her ass too. No. She had to lure Rose out somehow.

Thankfully for her, she found a solution.

Jaune Arc, Rose's partner. She'd done some digging and found out he'd faked his transcripts when he looked deeper. She was an expert and knew a forgery when she saw it. How the ones at the school didn't see it, she had no idea. Or maybe they did and thought he was a criminal they had to keep an eye on. That was her first thought - it's what she'd do if Roman wasn't too scared of picking a fight with the headmaster - and it made her wary.

Not that she had anything to worry about. She'd caught him out in town a couple of times and it became depressingly obvious that the guy was useless. Even Junior's rent-a-goons had more skill than he did, and that was impressive considering they got their ass kicked by a teenager with an oversized gardening tool.

She quickly ignored how Roman didn't fare any better.

Whatever, it made things easier for her, at least. Kidnap the blonde idiot and lure Rose over to somewhere they could have some 'fun' all by themselves. Luring the doofus over was easy. All she had to do was make an illusion of a crying little girl in an alley and he was putty in her hands. Pathetic. That was why the Huntsmen were so predictable. They were either hero wannabes or mercenaries with delusions of grandeur.

Neo crossed her arms and looked ahead at her hostage. She'd tied him up by the wrists with chains and left him hanging from the roof. His hands were raised above his head and he was positioned high enough that he had to stand on his tiptoes to not have his wrists carrying the weight of his entire body. This was her favorite position whenever she had to interrogate someone. A chair made them nice and comfortable, which she didn't like. This kept them alert.

She dragged Hush's blade against the ground and watched his gagged face flinch. Technically, Jaune Arc didn't do anything wrong. Well, not to her. He was a fraud, but so was most of everyone in this city. He was...collateral damage. She would've killed him already if she wasn't planning to make Rose hurt. If he was dead then she'd just get into a rage. No, she wanted that bitch's last sight to be her partner watching her die.

Speaking of...

The entrance to the warehouse behind her opened with a crash. Neo turned and sneered as she saw the large metal doors flying away clear through their hinges and crashing to the ground. Rose stepped through the door, stance rigid and mouth curled into a scowl. If looks could kill, there wouldn't have been enough for a body left to bury. Neo's eyes flicked up and she winced slightly. It might have been just her imagination, but she could've sworn the younger girl's silver irises were glowing.

Neo's mouth curled into a sneer of her own and she readied hush, turning around to face her fully. Arc tried to scream through his gag behind her and shook his chains, "Neo..." Rose growled. Neo raised a brow. Rose knew her name too. Well, she shouldn't have been surprised. While she wasn't as infamous as Roman, her looks and style meant that she wasn't exactly a fly on the wall.

She prepared her Semblance and got to work. Normally she'd try to toy around with her opponent - have some fun with her food - but right now she wasn't in the mood. She'd take down Rose quickly then toy with her once she was nice and helpless.

Neo maneuvered herself behind the reaper and jumped up silently, Hush raised as she prepared a downward stab. Her illusory copy charged toward Rose and would make contact as soon as the knife stabbed the back of her ne-

Rose shot the copy with a scoff and spun around, blade twisting to slash across Neo's midsection. Neo quickly moved Hush to block and barely managed to keep the sharp edge from cutting across her body. Rose kept the momentum going and Neo found herself flung through the air towards the right-side wall from the force of the blow.

She quickly flipped around so her feet landed on the vertical surface and jumped back toward Rose, Hush poised for another stab. Her oversized gardening tool was big, but it meant she'd be helpless once someone closed the distance.

Neo closed the gap quickly and Hush was inches from cutting her throat when Rose's left hand, which was suddenly coated in a film of rose petals, shot out and grabbed her neck, the scythe falling to the floor with a loud crash. Hush's blade barely managed to scrape Rose's Aura before Neo was slammed to the ground with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs. She knew that Aura users were way stronger than they looked - she was a walking example - but even she found herself floored by the power of the attack.

"I waited so long for this..." Rose snarled, teeth bared in a manic smile. A chill ran down Neo's spine and she struggled against the vice-like grip, "We just let you go after that damn cat got out. You didn't deserve to get off so easy!" She said the last part with so much anger that spit flew from her mouth. Despite the situation she found herself in, Neo came to one startling realization.

Ruby Rose was fucking crazy.

She slipped another blade hidden up her wrist and stabbed Rose's side. Aura blunted the blow, of course, but it distracted her enough for Neo to kick her off. pick up Hush, and put some distance between the two of them. The mute assassin scrambled back and rubbed her throat. She felt that even through her Aura.

Rose picked up her scythe again and turned towards her, laughing softly under her breath, "I was gonna go after you anyway, but I would've made it quick. Not anymore. This time, I'm gonna have some fun."

Another chill ran down her spine and, despite how much she hated to admit it, Neo couldn't deny the truth. She was scared. She'd fought against unfair odds before, but there was something different about Rose. Her eyes seemed to pierce through her and she suddenly felt like that little girl being lectured by her parents again. Like she wasn't Neopolitan, but Tri-

Neo shook her head forcefully and bared her teeth in a snarl. No, she was not going to think about that weak little girl! Rose wasn't any different from any other cocky Huntsman that thought they had her number.

She charged at Rose and created more illusions, this time making it appear as if she was teleporting into different positions every few steps.

It didn't help.

Rose hit her upside the jaw with the other end of the scythe and then shot her in the face, making her stumble back. Just like before, her limbs were briefly coated with rose petals before suddenly going back to normal. She knew from her research that the reaper had a speed-based Semblance, but there was nothing about her being able to use them on individual limbs.

"What's wrong? Scared?" Rose chucked.

Anger overtook fear and Neo snarled again. She wasn't gonna let this fucking brat win!

But no matter what she did, nothing worked. Rose easily dodged and countered every single attack she did and Neo found her Aura quickly dipping into the red as she was hit with a stab to the gut from the large scythe's tip. Why...Why weren't her illusions working?! No matter what she did, Rose always knew where she was. The best she'd gotten were a few slashes that barely dinged the reaper's Aura.

Neo's multicolored eyes flickered from the cocky Huntress to her still-bound partner. Arc had been watching the fight go on helplessly for the past few minutes. Her grip on Hush tightened and she created one more illusion to (hopefully...) distract Rose before she rushed towards the bound blonde. She could put a knife to his neck to make Rose back off. Or failing that, she'd cut his throat and make sure that Rose at least didn't end this as a winner.

A few steps from grabbing Arc, Rose suddenly surged forward in a storm of rose petals and got between them. Neo forced herself to stop her desperate run and barely managed to bend over backward to avoid the slash aimed right at her face. She flipped back and got into a crouched position, eyes flicking down to her scroll momentarily to check her Aura levels. Not good. She only had one or two hits left before her Aura broke.

"You really do want to die, don't you?" her voice was eerily soft and calm, though Neo heard the rage underneath it all, "What did you think was going to happen? There's nothing you can do that I don't already know about. I know all your tricks...Trivia."

Multicolor eyes widened and Neo gasped, the sound deafening despite the wide space of the warehouse. A cocktail of emotions swirled through her as she processed Rose's words. Shock, disbelief, anger, fear...it left her unfocused and barely able to dodge the next bullet aimed at her chest.

Trivia...the number of people who knew about her past could be counted on one hand. Roman would never betray her like that no matter how scared she was. That only meant...

Burning, white-hot anger overpowered all the other emotions she felt. That fat bitch Malachite. She must've told Rose somehow. She always held a grudge ever since Roman left the Spiders. That must've been how Rose beat Roman too. Malachite must've given her an edge somehow. Fuck...fuck! She was going to kill that cow and her fucking daughters! Then anyone else who knew the name Trivia!

But first, she had to escape. As much as she hated the idea of running with her tail between her legs, she knew when she was outmatched. She'd find another way to get at Rose.

She made one last illusion. This one masked her appearance to make her look indistinguishable from the wall. Now all she had to do was-

A bullet impacted against the floor just an inch from her foot, "You know that's not gonna work on me, right?" Rose tilted her head to the side and looked at her with condescending pity, "No wonder Cinder tricked you. Nothing in that empty little head of yours."

Rose surged forward in another storm of rose petals and attacked her. The next hit broke her Aura and flung her through the air for a moment before she landed with a hard smack against the concrete floor. Neo groaned silently and looked up just as Ruby stomped on her chest. Her mouth parted in a noiseless scream and spit flew from her parted lips before Rose kicked her side and forced her head down into the ground.

"You know, I always thought you were a selfish psychopath, but now you had to make it personal." Rose stomped her outstretched right hand without holding back. A sickening crack accompanied the hit and Neo shut her eyes, "You and Roman were both already on my list. What kind of monster doesn't even hesitate when it comes to destroying a whole kingdom? And for what? So you two can keep your worthless lives."

Another stomp, this time to her left hand. Neo whimpered weakly.

"And then you stalked me across Remnant because you blamed me for Roman's death." ...What? If she wasn't in unbearable pain right now, Neo would've wondered what the hell she was talking about. Instead, all she could do was keep whimpering as Rose turned her back around till they were face-to-face again, "Being eaten by that griffon was better than he deserved. It would've been better if you died too."

As Rose raised her foot again, Neo finally understood. She was not a monster. She was a gnat, a worm, an insect, pretending to be one. Ruby Rose was the real monster. Neo was just her prey.

Across the warehouse from where he was forced to hang, Jaune could only look on in silent horror as Ruby raised her right foot and stomped his kidnapper's face in. One stomp, then two, then three...again and again till blood stained the underside of her boots. Even after she kidnapped him, Jaune couldn't help but feel pity towards the silent assassin as blood and teeth stained the floor.

And then Ruby suddenly stopped. He thought that his kidnapper was dead, but her (broken) hand twitched weakly, "Can't kill her. Fuck, I want to, but I can't," Ruby muttered to herself. She sounded insane, "Cinder will get paranoid, change her plans. Can't let that happen. Can't, can't, can't. Don't want it to happen again. Don't, don't, don't..."

She crouched down and grabbed the kidnapper roughly by her hair, "You listen to me. You pretend that nothing's wrong when you meet Cinder again. She asks you to do anything, you smile and nod. Understand?" Nothing. Ruby's mouth bared in a growl and she screamed, "Understand me?! Say yes or I'll finish the job!"

Even though her head was more a bruise than a face at this point, his kidnapper managed a weak nod.

"Good. And if you even think about telling her or trying to deviate, I'll kill Roman and leave pieces of him scattered all over Vale. And then I'll hunt you down. It doesn't matter where you run or try to hide, I'll find you, Trivia. So be a good girl and do what I say and maybe you won't end up so fucked up that not even your illusions can hide it."

She stood and looked down at the half-dead, twitching woman with an expression of detached hate, her cheeks and jaw stained with blood and silver eyes dull. Then she turned to face Jaune and her expression brightened.

"Jaune~ Sorry I took so long!" She skipped over to where he was and cut the chain holding him up. He fell to the floor with a slump and looked up with dread in his eyes as Ruby cooed and knelt beside him, "You must've been so scared! I'm sorry I let her take you. I promise I won't let it happen again!"

Ruby pulled the gag down to let him speak, "R-Ruby...you..." He didn't know what to say. Thank her for saving him? Express shock at what she'd just done? He looked at the pool of blood and teeth on the floor and shuddered. He didn't realize he was crying till Ruby hugged him.

"Shh, shh. It's okay now, Jaune. It's okay. I'm here." She held him gently and rubbed her arms down his back, "We're together now and nothing will ever change that. I'll make sure of it. No one will ever take you from me again. The two of us will be together forever."

Jaune kept crying.

No smut in this chapter, but more plot. We get more of a glimpse into Ruby's damaged psyche and how she's Not Okay despite how much she tries to suppress it. Don't worry, she does get better as the story goes on.

And yes, Ruby will get called out on her behavior soon by Jaune. We the audience know why she acts like this, but she comes across as psychotic to anyone looking in.

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Question:

1. Just curious. Imagine you were in Jaune's place - a girl comes out of nowhere, she's super strong, knows everything about you, declares herself your girlfriend, etc etc. How would you react? Would you be into it or freak the fuck out? Some other reaction?

2. Do you guys feel sorry for Neo or think she brought it on herself? Ruby's American History X moment was undeniably brutal, but she's also right that Neo is a psychopath who was fine with watching all of Vale burn and only got mad when Roman died.