What Lies Within V
"The coat she is wearing is supposed to protect her from the darkness but I have a feeling there is a lot more going on."
Terra knelt down next to the unconscious Neo, while Oscar and Penny sat on the other side. When Terra had seen what had happened to Neo during her fight with Team RWBY using Penny's own body to manifest themselves, he was almost reminded of how he had called on the darkness.
A mistake leading to his body being possessed by Xehanort.
He didn't know Neopolitan as well as Aqua or the others. He knew she had been given a Keyblade by Aqua that they had found and Neo had proven herself worthy of wielding it. However, he also knew enough to know that Neo was a somewhat troubled girl and possibly a deep issue with her past was enough that during her battle with RWBY, she couldn't face whatever these issues might be and thus 'lost' her Keyblade.
However, Terra knew the real reason.
"The darkness didn't make her lose her Keyblade." He spoke up, causing Penny and Oscar to look at him. "Rather, I think whatever issues with her past might be is something she did not want to face. That caused her heart to experience something it couldn't cope with and that's why her Keyblade disappeared."
"So, is it gone?" Oscar asked.
Surprisingly Terra shook his 'head'. "No, it's not gone. Just sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Penny inquired.
"The Keyblade is the power of one's heart manifested into physical form. Our hearts are what gives our Keyblades their power. If one experiences something causing them to doubt themselves, their hearts to hesitate then the Keyblade loses that." Terra explained. "I think that's what happened with Neo and her inability to face these problems or understand is what caused darkness to be attracted to her."
Oscar and Penny shared a glance before looking back at Terra and Oscar voicing their shared question. "So what do we do?"
Terra summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at Neo's chest. "I think it's time we get to the source of the problem. Both of you, touch my Keyblade."
Oscar and Penny stared for a second before reaching out and touching Terra's Keyblade. From the tip of his Keyblade came a thin beam of light that hit Neo's chest where her heart was located. The unconscious woman let out a gasp as the vision of the three standing over her was taken by a bright light.
Xxx
When Terra along with Oscar and Penny were able to see again, they were no longer in the Ever After.
And they were not alone.
"Wha-"
"Penny?!"
"How did we-"
Penny simply smiled as Ruby rushed up and hugged her. "It's good to see you too, Ruby. As well as the rest of Team RWBY and Jaune."
"Penny!" Ruby cried, holding her dear friend close for a moment before pulling away. "What happened? Where are we?"
"I believe we are in Neopolitan's heart." Penny said, looking down.
The rest looked down, seeing themselves on a large stained glass platform that depicted Neo in the middle with her eyes closed. The background in the middle was a mixture of pink, brown and white while above the painting of Neo were portraits of a two people:
Roman Torchwick
Aqua
The outer ring of the platform was brown with and decorated with ice cream symbols colored pink, brown and white with a pink background. There was a middle wing surrounding the portrait of Neo, showing portraits of Team RWBY, Jaune, Nora, Ren, the Malachite Sisters, a man in a business and a woman in a white dress with both having brunette hair, Emerald Sustrai, Mercury Black, Adam Taurus, Cinder Fall, Hazel Rainhart, Tyrian Callows and Salem.
However there two very noticeable parts of this place that caught the group's attention.
The first detail was a series of cracks running along the platform, especially over the man and the woman but there were also cracks over Roman's portrait, likely meaning it symbolized that they were dead.
And the second detail was the little girl sobbing in the center of the platform.
"Who-" Weiss stated as Penny walked over to the sobbing little girl and knelt down next to her.
"Hello, my name is Penny." Penny greeted with a smile, causing the girl to pause and look up at her.
She was a little girl, perhaps around eight years old with brunette hair like the man and the woman in the cracked portraits.
It took a second for everyone to recognize her.
"Is that Neo?" Blake asked, surprised by the sight of the crazed woman who had tried to kill them.
The girl looked at them and they saw her eyes.
Her brown and pink eyes.
"In a way." Penny softy rubbed the girl's back as she looked back and forth fearfully at everyone. "This is her at age eight…As Trivia Vanille."
"GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Penny jumped back as a pink blur dashed in, lashing out with a kick aimed at her head. Trivia cried out and crawled back as the familiar form of Neopolitan stood between her and the group, glaring hatefully at them.
"Oh great." Yang raised her fists while everyone reached for their weapons…
Only to see they didn't have them.
Terra didn't bother to summon his Keyblade at all, preferring to observe for the moment. Yang kept her fists ready, not really needing Ember Celica with her as she specialized in hand-to-hand combat while everyone just readied themselves in case Neo attacked.
"How dare you come here?" Neo growled but didn't attack…yet. "It's bad enough you cost me my Keyblade but now you come in here?!"
"Neo, calm down." Oscar raised both hands, taking one step forward.
"Oscar…" Ruby said carefully, ready to move if Neo was going to attack him.
"Your Keyblade is not gone, Neo. It's still with you, in your heart. But this…" Oscar gestured to the crack platform. "This is why it left. The platform represents your heart but look at the cracks forming on it. You won't get it back by hurting any of us."
"It will make me feel better." Neo retorted as she prepared to attack.
"No, don't!" The girl called out from behind Neo. "If you hurt them, you'll make her sad!"
Everyone paused at what the girl said.
Her?
"Why do we care about her? She left us just to save the world. A rotten world at that." Neo snapped, glaring at the girl over her shoulder. "Why should we care about the world? It's never done anything for us aside from taking anything that was good for us."
The same dark aura from before surrounded Neo and her pink and brown eyes flashed yellow. The girl trembled and slowly crawled back, terrified by what Neo was experiencing.
"So weak and pathetic." Neo scoffed in disgust. "I can't believe I wasted all those years protecting you."
"Who are you?" Neo turned and looked at Yang who staring stoically at her. "You're supposed to be Neo, but that girl…"
"She's Trivia." Neo simply said with annoyed look on her face. "The little girl who could never do anything for herself, only silently dream and wish for things to get better for her."
The group glanced at the trembling girl who looked so scared.
"You said Trivia was dead." Penny spoke up. "When we spoke before, you said Trivia died with her parents."
"And I meant it." Neo rolled her eyes. "She's just an unwanted reminder of that pathetic little girl. Her Semblance made me, Neo to be the friend she always wanted. The one who encouraged her to step out and be more than the mindless puppet her parents wanted her to be. Only when the idiot bastard and his bitch of a wife couldn't take it anymore, they 'shattered' me in front of her before shipping her off to that snooty school."
She disappeared and reappeared a few feet away over the portraits of the brunette haired man in the suit and the woman in the white dress and stomped on them, causing more cracks to appear.
"Only Neo didn't 'die' that day. Rather, I took over for Trivia and left her somewhere safe." Neo brought a hand up to the pink side of her hair. "I was everything Trivia wanted to be. She never understood why she couldn't recreate 'Neo' until she found her hair changing to resemble mine. From that point forward, Trivia wasn't there anymore, becoming the girl she always wanted to be. The one who cared nothing for what people thought of her and did whatever she wanted without having to feel any kind of regret."
The way she was grinning at them…
It was even more psychotic than regular Neo.
Ruby glanced over at the trembling girl, Trivia.
Was this the real her?
Was Neo just a façade for this girl?
Ruby couldn't find it in herself to believe this the same girl who had been an enemy to her and her friends for years.
"This darkness…" Terra muttered. "The dark coat was supposed to protect your heart from it. How is it possible you have this?"
"Oh yeah, you weren't there for chapter…forty I think when we were in the Realm of Darkness." Neo brought a hand to her chin.
Suddenly there was a flash of light…
The blast collided with Neo before she could react, sending her flying off the ground and falling into the dark ocean.
Aqua spun around, her eyes widening. "Neo!"
Dark Ansem grinned as he vanished into the Corridor of Darkness. "Another time, Lost Guardian, Master."
With that he was gone but Aqua had no time to spare him a second thought as she raced towards the water, watching as Neo hit the water. "Neo!"
SPLASH!
As soon as she hit the water, Neo felt herself falling rather than sinking for some reason. It didn't help there was a blackness spreading from the center of chest and out across her body.
"What's…happening…?" Neo slowly asked, her voice filtered by the water as she continued to sink deeper into the darkness.
The light faded away and everyone was silent and still for a moment before Neo spoke up. "Yeah, that's how it started."
"I heard about that…But Aqua saved you." Terra pointed out.
"She did but as you can see, there are two of us." Neo pointed over at the now slightly trembling Trivia. "Her Semblance bonded with the part of me that was still…well somewhat good which I guess meant poor little Trivia. Me on the other hand?"
She held up her hand and conjured a black wispy smoke. "It stayed with me, and I got to say…I rather liked it…"
Another flash of light came.
Aqua continued sinking after her, reaching out with one hand towards her…
As she opened her eyes, eyes that were now golden yellow.
Neo grabbed her hand and then her neck as she leaned up with an grin on her face and pulled Aqua down towards her.
"So glad you could join me, Aqua." Neo said through the water but Aqua could still hear her. "Let's sink together…into the dark!"
Aqua called upon her Semblance and sure enough a pink star glyph appeared under her feet, brightening up the surrounding dark waters.
Neo's golden yellow eyes went wide as a pink light appeared in her chest.
'That's it!' Aqua concentrated, feeling Neo's own heart through her Semblance. 'If you cannot fight the darkness alone then accept my light!'
"Aqua ruined it for me when she used her Semblance to…purify my heart." Neo scoffed but smiled. "Luckily I kept a small bit of the darkness with me while the goodie light went over to Trivia. Ever since that little dip in the lake, it's been working its way up in here. Sure, Aqua gave us the dark coat but a little pointless since the darkness was already in here, growing stronger with each fight we went through and that little bout with Little Red and her friends was enough to give it the push it needed. Like I said, I liked the feeling it gave me in that lake before Aqua ruined it for me and this time she's not around to 'purify' us."
If he had eyes, Terra would have narrowed them as he realized what had happened. When Neo fell into the dark lake, the darkness in it fed the darkness of her own heart which happened to be the form of Neo standing before them, enjoying the darkness. Aqua and Neo did indeed bond but Neopolitan was the manifestation of not only Triva Vanille's own wishes and desires but likely her dark side as well as Neopolitan was unable to feel empathy or compassion.
Rather it was the part of her that was still Trivia who felt all those positive qualities and was likely the good side of her heart that had been purified by Aqua.
In a way, Neopolitan was a lot like Vanitas.
Too much for Terra's comfort.
"Now then, time for talking is over." The dark aura surrounding Neo began conjuring dark images of the group. "This darkness works really well with my Semblance. I don't think I can call it Overactive Imagination anymore…I think I'll call it…"
The shadowy copies of the group all had their weapons in their hands and their were eyes were glowing yellow. As Neo conjured these shadowy copies, more cracks appeared along the glass platform representing her heart.
"Dark Mirror." Neo grinned darkly.
"You don't want to do this." Terra stepped forward before anyone did anything else. "This darkness…It will destroy you and Trivia."
Neo scowled. "Like I care what you think."
"And will you do the same to Aqua?" Terra questioned. "After everything she did for you? Saving your life, giving you your Keyblade? I can tell by the portrait here you value her. What will you say to her if you really do destroy us?"
"Maybe your hard at hearing, bucket head but I am Neopolitan and I don't care what anyone thinks of me." Neo grit her teeth. "She's just another goodie-goodie. She would never have accepted me for who I am anyways."
"That's not true!"
Neo growled and looked over at Trivia. "You…"
"She's the only person besides Roman who accepted us, who trusted us after everything she learned…She knows what we did…She knows we're not good…But she accepted us and gave us our Keyblade…No one ever gave us a gift like that…since Roman." Trivia sniffed as more tears came down her cheeks. "She's the kindest person we've ever known…She made us feel like…What's it like to have someone who cares for us…Who accepts us for who we are…"
Neo snarled as she turned towards the girl. "And you think a few trinkets of kindness will be enough?! She abandoned us to save that stupid world that chewed us up and spit us out! She's no different from Cinder!"
"You're wrong!" Trivia shouted back. "Ever since you got this…darkness…you've become so much worse. What happened to you?!"
"Me?! I have been looking after both of us since you imagined me into existence!" The dark aura surrounding Neo intensified. "I played with you when Mama and Papa wouldn't so much as look at us! I assured you that it was never your fault they hated us! And when Mama shattered me and dumped you in that prissy school, I took over for you because it was too much for you and you would never have handled being there! And when Red killed Roman I went after her because his death hurt us both!"
She took another step towards Trivia as her eyes began to glow yellow. "It was all me…We survived because of ME!"
Trivia was trembling in terror now, unable to even move as the darkened form of Neo took another step towards her.
"But you know what? I don't think I need you anymore." Neo summoned an orb of dark light in her hands. "I think…It's time we make Trivia's death official!"
She hurled the orb at Trivia who screamed and closed her eyes. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
BOOM!
A red blur shot in and grabbed Trivia at the last second, dashing out of the way in time before the orb hit. The blast from the attack caused more cracks to form but Neo didn't pay any attention as she turned and looked annoyed to see Ruby holding Trivia with her team and friends surrounding her.
"And what is this supposed to be?" Neo questioned. "You do know that's the same girl who has been your enemy, the one who tried to kill you and then you tried to kill?"
Ruby glared at Neo while her silver eyes flashed. "No, I don't think she is."
"Phf!" Neo rolled her eyes. "Oh really? She's a part of me, meaning she is every bit me as much as I am here. The only difference is that I have none of the weaknesses. And you, you really have no clue what you want to do at all, do you Little Red? First you want to kill me and now you want to save me?" Neo chuckled. "You can't make up your mind at all, can you?"
"Funny how you say she's you when you just tried to kill her." Ruby retorted to which Neo glared. "You literally want to discard the last piece of yourself that's decent. That actually shows you're not just a monster."
"What do you care anyway? You wanted us both dead not too long ago when you thought Remnant was gone for good. You were ready to kill the both of us along with Aqua when she defended us." Neo retorted.
"And I regret it!" Ruby shouted back as tears threatened to spill down her face. "I was lost…I was hurt…I thought I lost everyone and…"
Yang, Weiss and Blake looked ashamed of themselves for how they acted, what they had become in their grief.
"I thought I failed…I thought it was all my fault…And then I was filled with the same kind of hate you had towards me when you thought I killed Roman." Ruby quickly wiped away her tears. "I was wrong then…I can admit that. That's why I can't let you go through with this. Killing a part of yourself, the last of you that's good will make you as much a monster Cinder and Salem!"
"So what?" Neo asked, not caring in the slightest. "Like I said, Trivia Vanille died with wretched parents in the fires that destroyed her childhood home. What you're holding right now, is just a corpse…One whose funeral pyre I should have lit long ago!"
She fired another blast of darkness but Ruby didn't have the chance to dash away this.
CLANG!
Instead, Terra summoned his Keyblade and slashed the blast away. "I will not allow that."
Neo grit her teeth.
"I see now…Both of you, the same parts of the same being but separate, split apart much like Ven's heart was. Only it's not as severe as what happened to him. Not yet." Terra pointed his Keyblade at Neo. "And it doesn't have to be for you. I know what it's like…The feeling the darkness gives, that sense of power, and how exciting…But there is a price to that power that I paid for…I know how it feels, but you'll lose yourself…And I know you at least care about one person."
Neo looked at Terra, a contemplating look on her face that made everyone wonder if Terra had gotten through to her.
Then she smiled and snickered. "…I like being out of control." As she spoke, Neo's pink and brown hair started to change. "It makes me HAPPY…"
The pink part of her hair became deathly white while the brunette said turned pitch black while her eyes took on a permanent golden hue. Meanwhile the dark coat she wore was replaced by a white and black organic looking bodysuit, white boots with black soles, a white half skirt that was torn with black tips that was held in place by three grey straps.
"KILL THEM ALL!" She shouted to the shadow copies who immediately attacked everyone in front of her.
Except for Terra.
(Kingdom Hearts OST Enter the Darkness)
(Information: Defeat Neopolitan and save Trivia from the darkness)
Turning to the armored warrior, Neo held out her hand and summoned a dark, purple colored version of her original weapon: her parasol named Hush.
Beginning the fight immediately Neo stabbed forward and from the tip of her parasol, came a lance of darkness that shot straight at Terra who raised his Keyblade and blocked the lance. Neo shot forward, swinging her parasol down on Terra's 'head' which was blocked. The two proceeded to clash their weapons, sending sparks flying. Terra's moves were wide but fast and powerful, but Neo was agile as she spun, ducked and literally danced out of the way of each attack.
Terra noticed more cracks appearing along the glass platform and realized what was happening.
Even though the coat Aqua had given her was meant to protect Neo from the darkness, the small bit that had latched onto her in the dark lake was still growing stronger.
Strong enough that soon Neo's heart wouldn't be able to handle it.
'Glancing' over at the others, he saw they were all dealing with their shadow copies who not only had perfect copies of their own weapons but even managed to copy their powers as well.
He had to end this fast before or they would be trapped in here as Neo's heart was swallowed up in darkness.
Not just for her sake, but also Aqua's.
As he slashed at Neo again, she surprised him by splitting into a dozen Neopolitans that surrounded and attacked him all sides.
SLASH!
SLASH!
CLASH!
CLASH!
BANG!
BANG!
Terra grunted as all the Neos attacked him and he could see dark auras surrounding them, meaning they were using darkness to enhance their strikes. It was also likely that the darkness enhancing Neo's Semblance made her illusionary copies more real.
And it wasn't just that.
Terra's instincts screamed at him as a giant block of concrete appeared above him and he just barely managed to dodge as it crashed into the ground where he had been. Neo grinned as she dispelled her copies, watching as the dust cleared…Only to be assaulted by a dozen magical energy arrows that knocked her back. The dust cloud cleared to reveal Terra with his Keyblade morphed into a crossbow.
Neo grunted but grinned as a dozen machine guns surrounded her, having been summoned into existence by her Semblance.
"…Okay." Terra muttered as his Keyblade morphed into a shield just in time to defend against the barrage of dark bullets.
BANG-BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG! BANG-BANG-BANG!
Terra mentally frowned, realizing he was being boxed into a corner by the endless barrage. Taking a risk, he slammed his Keyblade down into the ground, noting as more cracks appeared and ethereal chains shot out, wrapping around the barrels of the machine guns and squeezed down on them, rendering them useless. Neo scowled and dismissed the guns as Terra charged at her but smiled as he twisted his Keyblade in his grip and slammed the hilt into her gut.
CRACK!
Terra mentally frowned as the crack he heard sounded like he had hit metal instead of bones. Looking down he saw Neo's mid-section had become metal-like.
"Like it? In here, with the darkness enhancing my Semblance I can imagine anything I want into reality. Meaning my ability is limitless because imagination itself is limitless." Neo sported a sick grin. "And right now, I plan to imagine the lot of you out of existence!"
