Author's Notes at end
Neo was exhausted. She had slept for days it felt like and was still tired. Her dreams filled with terror like she had never experienced before. Even after she got thrown out of the nightmarish place she had trouble closing her eyes without dreams of her getting torn to pieces, experimented on, or her worst memories coming back to haunt her.
She couldn't manage to stay awake for long though over those few days and everytime she sat down or even attempted to rest she would be thrown back into the terrors.
The worst part was whenever she was awake she would have a constant headache, and feel dehydrated. She decided that she was finally going to leave the house today though. It had been a couple days and Needle should be done with her bag by now. Maybe getting out of the house would be for the best after all.
Neo gets dressed, and eats breakfast before grabbing Hush and exiting her house. The fresh air feels nice but the suns nearly blind her and cause her head to throb even worse than before. She wanted to just go back inside but instead she opens her parasol and starts on the walk.
Going through the Dessert Acre, Neo started thinking about the signs at the intersections along the roads, and if maybe she should explore more of this place since she's here already. She looked at the signs and thought about exploring. After a few months in this place she really hadn't explored much outside of looking for food, and Jaune.
Neo looked at the list of different acres, and pondered for a while on where she might end up going. The Field Acre, Lake Acre, Windy Acre, Rusty Acre, Snake Acre, and the Kings Acre were the ones that she saw as she walked. She had already been through the Snake, and Kings Acre, but had not yet passed through the rest of them. Maybe she would go through the Rusty Acre today instead of the usual bridge.
The bridge to the acre looked sketchy, and she had already seen Jaune almost fall when it broke, but it looked fixed enough now, and she also didn't weigh as much as the knight. Neo steps carefully on the bridge, and it creaks and groans but still holds as she makes her way across.
Stepping into the Rusty Acre Neo looks at the mountains of metal around her, and notices several things that Jaune did before. A lot of very modern looking objects in the piles, and some objects she didn't recognize. One of the things she knew for certain though, was that one of the ships in the acre was definitely a famous one that had vanished about 90 years earlier. What it was doing here though? Neo couldn't say she had a clue.
Neo looked around a bit more intrigued, and curious on what else she might find in the piles. She couldn't spot things of much use outside of some jewelry, that she took. Neo had then finished her exploration, and stepped onto the bridge leading out of the Acre, and into the Kings Acre.
The walk through the forest was much less interesting than the walk through the Rusty Acre, the forest between the bridge and the town having been explored a bit already, maybe she was missing something, but once she got the bag she would be more willing to explore the forest. She needed something to wake her up after all maybe the book would have something to help her.
Once Neo made it to the town she made her way straight to Needle's shop. Getting to the shop, Neo sees no sign of the shops owner, and knocks on the counter to see of anyone is there at all. Neo waits a few moments, and sees some movement in the back, and soon enough the weaver makes her way up to the front of the shop, and looks at Neo.
"You're late." The weaver says. "What happened?"
Neo nods. 'Long couple days.'
"You were gone for more than a week, and you look like you haven't slept in just as long."
A confused expression crosses Neo's face. 'I was only gone for a couple days. I don't look that bad do I?'
Needles face scrunches up as she looks at Neo, debating in her head whether its worth it to answer. "Yeah… you do." Neo sighs, and the doll speaks again. "Why were you gone for 9 days?"
'First off. Do you still have my bag that I asked for?' Neo grumbles in her head to the weaver. The scowl on her face, moreso reminiscent of the pout of an angry child than a trained thief, and assassin.
"I haven't given your bag away if you're asking. Needle reaches under the counter and hands Neo a brown messenger bag with some pink stitching that didn't pop out too much but still showed enough to give a nice contrast. Needle just like her brother enjoyed making things by hand, and took extra care when creating things without the use of her ability to sew perfectly without a single touch. To her the small imperfections of doing it by hand showed more soul than a perfect creation made with no skill.
Neo looks over the bag. It's not small, but Neo didn't know if it was quite large enough to take with her when collecting a lot of things or for trips lasting longer than a day. Needle can see the look on Neo's face and answers her questions. "You don't have to worry about space it can fit whatever you pack as long as it can fit into the opening. Just be careful not to pack too much or you might forget and lose something. You can also fit your other weapon in there as well."
Surprise crosses her face from the blunt statement that she could put a whole entire sword into the bag 'Thank you, and I'm sorry about the rudeness.'
"You're welcome. Now can you answer my question. Why were you gone for 9 days?"
'Bad luck, and everything and everyone here is really fucking weird.'
"Alright… I have a different question then." Needle's eyes narrow, and she speaks directly into Neo's head 'You went missing right after, Jaune got attacked. Were you the one who attacked him?'
'The knight got attacked?' Neo says feigning ignorance. If one paid extra attention though, they would be able to tell she was nervous. She didn't expect the knights death to be known yet, but after all it had been close to 10 days now that she attacked him. Not four. 'When did this happen?'
'A week and a half ago. Right around the time you vanished…' Needle says the suspicion in her voice telling Neo that she's all but sure she had some involvement with it.
Neo's been in stickier situations than this before, and she would be caught dead before she willingly gave up the fact that she was the one who killed the knight. Maybe a little sprinkle of truth would help her case though. 'I got into a fight with some of the King's guards, one of them hit me with an odd weapon, and I was transported into a place full of my worst fears. Ever since then I haven't recovered completely, and am constantly tired. That's why I vanished.'
The truth was weird, but this place was weirder. So Neo decided to use the experience from the nightmare pocket dimension to help her innocence.
"That would make sense then. You seem super tired. You thought you were only gone for a few days, and you didn't know about the knight being attacked. I am curious though… Why were you fighting the Red King's guards."
'I wanted to see inside his castle. I was curious. I thought I could take them, but they're brutal, and its hard to take them down.'
The weaver nods her head, her unnaturally perfect face focused, and still obviously skepticle of some of Neo's story. "It is awfully convenient, and a bit too well timed for a coincidence.'
It wasn't unexpected that Needle wouldn't be convinced, but it still made the mute tense nonetheless. How deep could Needle probe into her mind? Probably not that far or else she would have already seen that Neo was responsible. Neo instead tries to play it off. 'I get why you wouldn't believe me if you've been listening to Jaune, but why would I have waited this long? Why would I come back after disappearing if I did it and thought I was suspected.'
'Fair point.' Apparently while the people here were smarter than they seemed it was still fairly easy to trick them. Neo had a question of her own though 'How was Jaune killed?'
"Killed?" Needle asks confused "He's still alive, just asleep. He did take a pretty bad beating, and, and is hasn't woken up. We were all concerned when he didn't come back 5 days ago, to get the pie from Crusty, when he didn't show up he contacted Phthalo. He had two of the other Tailings check on him, and when they got there he was unconscious and covered in cuts and stabs. Apparently the cat was there too which makes it even more odd."
'Shit.' Neo panics slightly realizing now that she should have gone through with it completely instead of trusting that he would bleed out and die like any other normal person would. What was this thing about a cat though. 'A cat?'
"Yeah it's like the guide here. Helps those who come back, and those who are new find where they belong."
'Haven't met a cat yet.' Neo tells the doll
"Hmm… I wonder why not. Usually it's always around when someone new shows up."
Neo shrugs. 'I don't know why it wouldn't.'
"Indeed… It's been nice talking to you Neo, but I've got other business. I hope you understand"
'It has. Thank you again for the bag, and I hope to see you again. I'm thinking of traveling for a bit, maybe I'll bring you back something when I come back.' Neo smiles at the weaver, and turns around to leave.
"Before you go. I would like to warn you. Theres a lot of things out there that will test you to see what you're made of. It's easy to get lost in the Ever After even when you know where you are."
Needle's warning sends a shiver down Neo's spine. It was appreciated but Neo felt like there was something odd about the way Needle said it. It felt insincere, but it also felt like she wanted her to know before she left. How odd…
Neo stopped by thread's shop, and saw he wasn't there. She walked through the town for a bit, and eventually found him at the blacksmith's shop. Neo rapped on the counter to get his attention, but instead of Thread coming to the front the Blacksmith did.
"I see that you plan on leaving and exploring elsewhere, Neopolitan. I will not wish you anything more than I hope you find what you are looking for. Maybe it will help you heal. I will warn you though… You will not have an easy time after what you did."
Neo didn't know how the blacksmith knew, but if someone knew, and could validate Jaune if he woke up the she was screwed. She needed to get rid of him before she left…
Neo had spent the walk collecting some plants to put in her bag, and thinking about how to handle the situation. When she got to her green house she set the bag down, and grabbed the bit of food from inside it. As the mute eats she feels some of her aura drain, and in front of her Roman forms.
"So it seems we're stuck once again without a choice." He says lightning up a cigar. "This time though… You can do something about it."
Neo nods. She's a bit scared to be completely honest. The things she felt in that place linger in her head, and she feels phantom pains from injuries that never even happened. What if there's something worse out there protecting the knight from her.
"You have to get it over with Neo. You'll just be stuck in the same position you've been in for the past 3 years if you don't. It's alright though. I'm still here with you."
Neo smiled softly at the projection of the most important person in her life. Of course he would be. Who else has been there for her. Now she just had to finally kill one of the people responsible for his death. She could do that.
Neopolitan had waited until after dark to leave the house. Almost nobody in the acre was up, and none of them would be at the knight's house. It was an easy plan. Find him. Kill him. Leave. Nothing complicated about it.
Erring on the side of caution Neo had disguised herself as a taling as she walked out of the town and towards the knight's house. Once she was far enough away Neo lets the disguise fall, and goes off the path to make sure she wouldn't accidentally run into anyone no matter how slim the chances.
Once she sees the house in view, she sees something odd. 'At least I wont have to look long.' She thinks as she looks at the green tomb in front of the house right where she left him. Laying inside of it surely was her target, but in front of the small building stands two people, a man dressed in rags, and a fully dressed knight. She can see neither of their faces, both covered by the shadows of the night.
Neo tries sneaking behind them, but they seem to know. They stare at her intently their faces still shrouded by shadow even as they look up and towards her. The only visible feature they have is their eyes.
"We have met one like you before." The soldier says. "One much more dangerous, but with the same intentions of taking the man we were told to guard."
The other guardian speaks up right after. "You can not trick us, bribe us, or stop us from guarding this tomb."
Neo clicks the button on Hush, and lets the blade shoot out, trying to intimidate the two men. " I have not learned how to fear. Go away, we shall stay sitting here."
Neo walks towards the two men, the soldier pulling out his own weapon while the ragged man stayed back. Neo put up an illusion, and a construct, and tried to slink around to the side. She felt a chill run down her spine as soon as she moved away from the construct though. Their eyes were still locked on her.
Neo wanted to go on the attack, but the feeling of pure fear that gripped her heart stopped her. She was going to die if she tried fighting. Neo could feel it in her soul. So instead she left walking around, and giving the guards and tomb a wide berth as she did. When she had finally left the two guards sat down.
"A smart choice." The poor man said.
"It was indeed. First the Cat, and Jabberwalker, and now her. What a day…" The soldier sighs
"Once we're off for the day. You want to go out for a drink?"
The soldier smiles "Does my boot have a hole in it?"
Neo had slept the rest of the night. Finally her body felt well rested for once. Unfortunately though Neo's paranoia had increased. She had to leave, before she went insane just wondering if something would get her if she stayed here. Plus she had already said the day before she was leaving.
The mute packed her bag with some extra clothes, her few books, and some of the plants she had gathered. She decided to test the bag with Needle as well, and the weapon slid right in. disapearing into the bag like it was a small knife, and not a whole sword.
After she finished with the preparation Neo looked at the house. It really was a fairly cozy place, and she felt like she was going to miss it. Closing the door behind her Neo turns and faces the clear sky, and feels the cool breeze, and warmth of the suns, both doing well to keep the temperature nice.
"AHEM." Neo hears the sound and looks around, before feeling a small tap on her shin. Below her sits a bright purple and blue cat. "Yes you. I see your leaving which means I caught you at a perfect time. I was sent by the tree to tell you that your punishment for harming the knight before the allotted time has begun. The punishment will not kill you, but a friendly piece of advice… from one to another… dont think about it too much, and pray that he wakes up sooner rather than later."
With a little laugh the cat vanishes and Neo blinks a couple times wondering what the hell just happened…
Neo had gotten out of the green acre fairly easily and headed through the green acre, and to the dessert acre. Now here she stood in front of a very tall sign listing the acres she could head to. A lot of the acre's Neo had looked at seemed fairly simple, but having been here for a while she knew that they were probably anything but.
Neo had time to explore though. Maybe she should just walk and whenever one of the acres called to her she would decide to go on that one. First it was one she had already been through before. Snake Acre. Neo remembered her first journey through there. Snakes didn't scare the mute, but when you're absolutely surrounded by them, you tend to not feel so comfortable.
Her next option was the Windy Acre, which was the closest. She didn't want to be too close though. Maybe she would go later, but for now she wanted some distance so she kept walking. Another short while later she came upon another fork in the road. This one taking her to the lake acre.
The other acre listed on the sign was the field acre. She walked all the way to the end of the Dessert Acre, waiting for two hours before she came upon the bridge to the final acre. This time there were no crossroads. It was just straight to the Field acre. The bridge was short, and she could
This was where she would start. She could start here, and move back down towards the green acre, and if she didn't want to go back she could go somewhere else or something like that. She just wanted to stay away from the knight and the ones who knew what she did.
The walk through the forest was a short one though and she came out on the other side. Now she was standing in a massive field of flowers that stretched for miles. Not even a tree broke up the sight of the flowers. Her previous tiredness forgotten as she made her way among the flowers.
Neo walked she enjoyed this acre it was calm and the flowers eased her mind a little as she waded through the sea of them. Maybe she could end up living here. Neo ponders about a house in the acre. The only problem with the place from what she could see was that there was no water, and there was nothing nearby.
The acre was empty in a way that felt off to Neo though. A place like this should definitely have its own city or even a small town, or at the very least some inhabitants. What was wrong with this acre though that it was utterly lifeless. No sign of any past town either…
At least with the abandoned acre there were signs that it was inhabited at one point or another.
"Creepy isn't it?" Roman says from besides the girl causing her to jump. She had forgotten she had made him. It was nice to have him around. Even if he provided little more than a distraction in a fight she felt safer with him around.
'Yeah it is.' She replies as she looks around. It was beautiful and serene, but carried an emptiness and foreboding. Maybe it was just the massive thunderstorm on the edge of the acre coming towards her. Wait what.
"Neo we should probably leave." The faux man tells her in a slight panic. She felt the exact same way. Maybe it was the storms that kept the people out and if so then Neo didn't want to be here to find out why. So she started heading the opposite way from the story hoping to get out of the acre before it caught up to her.
Her fast walk quickly turns into a full blow sprint as she can start to feel the shadow of the cloud cover her. Soon the storm overtakes her and she's caught up in the rain she stops running and starts walking. As she walks she looks around her. The Roman construct is gone.
It feels even more alone and empty now. Neo felt chills go down her back, and she spun around. The field had disappeared completely. She was stuck on the top of a tower now. She needed to get down, but there was no way. And a fall into the abyss below was not ideal. What was she to do?
"It gets lonely up here." The familiar voice of Roman Torchwick says from behind her. Neo's construct had shattered as soon as the storm his which meant thi was just another illusion. "I don't mind it though… It's where we wanted to be right? At the top."
Neo doesn't give any form of answer, but the man keeps talking. "Maybe that was the problem though. I reached for the stars and one of them ended up burning me instead." His voice is softer than usual. She had only heard him like this a few times. The mute theif really hated how this place got into her head.
"We aren't getting off until you figure out why you're here in the first place Neo. I can't help you find the solution, but if I'm here it must mean I have something to do with your dilemma."
Neo listens to Roman's voice. She can't help it, even when she knows he's not real. Even if she knows he's not here she can't help it. He was her everything and he was taken away from her too soon. Maybe that's why she's here in the first place.
The thieves sit in silence for a while. Not a word between them. The quiet lasts for hours before Roman opens his mouth. "Not being able to save someone doesn't make their death your fault. It just means that it was out of your hands."
Roman then stands up and walks to the edge of the tower. Neo knows what he's doing. The urge to stop him winning out over any feeling that he was just a fake. The man leans forward and tips over the edge. Falling into the nothingness Neo manages to barely graze his hand as he falls. She knew this would just be another one of these.
What did she do for her to deserve this? The same thing over and over again. She couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't even punishment anymore for her. It was just taunting her with the fact that the most important person in her life was dead and gone. All because of the knight. She was getting tortured because he was more important. Next time she sees him then she's going to kill him for sure.
Consequences be damned. If this place wanted to torture her she'd kill it's favorite person and see how it liked that. Neo hated how much this place wanted to send her a message. She knew damn well it wasn't her fault that Roman died. This place didn't have to try and tell her that or give her "closure" with a fake of Roman.
The best way to get out of this place was probably following the his lead and taking the dive. So Neo jumped. And was immediately caught by a hand grasping onto her weapon. Looking up it was the knight. He didn't say a word as he held onto her. Neo snarled. Of course this place would have him here to try and change her mind. It wouldn't happen though. She ripped her arm from his grasp and fell…
For all of 2 seconds. She hit the ground and opened her eyes. She was back in the field. The storm passing over her as she lays on the ground. Her good mood soured already into her journey. She had a very strong urge to say screw it and go back to the Green Acre to try and kill Jaune right now.
Maybe leaving this acre would be a bit better for her. She walks towards the treeline closest to her. She would travel to any acre that wasn't the same one she came from. She wanted something new, and this acre already showed her enough for her to want to leave. Getting to the edge of the acre. Neo stood on the edge. and went to her left walking towards the closest acre this one.
She didn't know which acre it was but it was bright blue. She walked across the bridge, and when she stepped onto the acre she felt something was also off. The ground was extremely bouncy. Neo skipped a couple times and launched into the air with each bounce.
This place was absurd and so was everyone in it. Nothing made sense while still making sense in a weird messed up way. Neo laughs as she jumps bouncing up and down as she goes around the acre. Everything here was made of the same stuff the ground was. She would hit a tree and bounce right off.
The weird little moving slime creatures saw the girl bouncing around and started doing the same thing. The whole acre vibrating and bouncing with the girl. She was having fun for the first time in years…
Always watching as always the tree and it's avatar saw this and thought about the knight. Usually it was him who got to explore a bit. Maybe he could still have fun in the acres while dreaming. He did have to know how to get around after all.
Neo jumped around for hours. Until she got tired again and the sky started to turn dark. Neo lay down on the ground and looked up at the sky. She closed her eyes and fell into a troubled sleep. Something she wouldn't be getting away from any time soon…
Authors note:
I think I've realized this story is so hard because theres a lot of places to explore and people to meet, that I have to create. It's kinda weird having to do that and try to fit this part of the story around it. With favors I have some events and a timeline to go off of.
With this it's a lot of figuring out. Okay I want them to explore, but I also want their to be a story driver with their conflict. I think part of the problem is one sentence descriptions for the base chapters that I am trying to build off of instead of paragraph long outlines in the other chapter lists. It's part of why some of the chapters have felt like lists of what happens instead of an actual story, and for that i also apologize.
Jaune being in a coma for now helps with that. Luckily for me though that was one of the plans from the start. A lot of these chapters so far are exposition. Introductions and setting things up for later with the story kinda thrown in there. I apologize for that, and I will try to do better in the future.
I think I might try to write a short RSSH based oneshot about the holidays. So I think that might be next and might be what comes out in the next week or two. I've also been getting back into elden ring because it helps with my creative process. Once again I apologize for how poorly written the story has been so far.
As always though I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is.