AUTHOR'S NOTES: A very short chapter for once, mainly because the chapter is very, very serious-an examination of ethics and what it means to be a human being. Pretty heavy stuff for a RWBY fanfic about fighter pilots, but I'm really proud of this chapter.

The other reason is that the next chapter (what was going to be the second half of this one) is meant to be silly fun, as I haven't done a chapter like that in a long time. It was mood whiplash to go from Neo accusing Riana of erasing her personality to Ruby getting drunk and starting a bar fight...so we'll do that next time.

St. George Regional Airport

St. George, Utah, United States of America

24 April 2022

Riana Arashikaze knew that her only chance to live through the next hour was to keep Neo talking, until the flight crew returned. The entire situation felt surreal. When Riana looked at the mismatched eyes behind the unwavering pistol, she didn't see the international assassin and air pirate Neo Politan; she saw her friend Trivia Vanille. "So what do you want to me to say, Neo?" Riana asked.

"'I'm sorry' would be a start," Neo replied.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you?" Neo leaned forward, though the gun didn't move. "I bet you're not. I bet you were all for taking my life and personality away from me."

"I wasn't," Riana said. "I told Grandmother that we shouldn't do it." Neo made a scoffing noise. "I did. You can ask her."

"I might. What did you want to do to me, Riana?"

"I wasn't asked until after it was done. I'm not much more than an analyst, Neo. I got my job because of nepotism."

Neo laughed humorlessly. "At least you admit it. But what would you have said if you had been asked?"

So much for keeping her talking, Riana groused to herself, knowing she had probably talked herself into being shot. Riana was surprised that she wasn't afraid. After throwing up all over the backseat of a F-18, getting shot at by GRIMM, threatened by Mafiosos, and going upside down at two hundred feet over an airfield possibly used for slave smuggling, getting killed by Neo just wasn't all that frightening anymore. "I would've shot Neo Politan in the head and buried her in an unmarked grave."

Neo's eyebrows went up. "Really? Why?"

Riana shrugged. "Fuck it. You're going to kill me anyway." She forced herself to meet those mismatched eyes. "Because Neo Politan was a psychotic little bitch. Yeah, she had a shitty childhood. Her parents didn't understand that she had developmental issues. They never got her the help that Neo needed, because in the late 1970s and early 1980s they didn't understand people like her. But however misguided or rotten her parents were, they didn't deserve to be burned alive."

For the first time, Neo looked genuinely shocked. "Wait…that's not right. That's not right. My parents died in a house fire—"

"That you set. You were nineteen years old. Yeah, Neo, I'm going to do something that a CIA agent rarely does: tell the truth." Riana felt giddy with resignation. "Your parents sent you to a private school, and they treated you like shit there too. The teachers thought you were insane and sent you to counselors; the other kids called you a freak. You sat there and took it, trying to be a good little girl like Mom and Dad wanted, but the whole time, that abuse was just making your issues worse. You developed full-blown schizophrenia. The only friend Trivia Vanille ever had was Neo Politan, and you finally broke. After you murdered your parents and made it look like an accident—"

"Stop it!" Neo shouted. "I didn't do that!"

"Yes, you did!" Riana shot back. "You bragged about it on several occasions, including to CIA and FBI informants. In fact, you were quite proud of that fact. Should I continue?"

"If you're stalling…" The pistol came up a fraction.

"Then shoot me. Pull the goddamn trigger." Riana put her arms out. "Spare me the suspense."

Neo hesitated. "Finish the story first," she finally growled.

"All right." Riana suddenly wanted to tell the story as much as Neo wanted to hear it, like the condemned man who finally confesses to the crime and feels better for it. "After your parents were dead, you inherited their millions. You managed their finances for awhile, being cute little Trivia…but Trivia was dead. Neo had killed her along with her parents. Neo financed that money into flying lessons, then, once you found out you had a natural talent for it, you became an air pirate. A ruthless one who took out her hatred of the society that rejected her…but also one that was far better organized than the other gangs. After you took money from a rival corporation to kill an American businessman, you realized you could make even more money by becoming an assassin. So you did that next. And damn if you weren't good at it. There's people out there who the world thinks died accidentally, but it was actually Neo Politan. Sometimes you played the lolita, seduced them, and strangled them in their sleep. Sometimes you poisoned their drink while you were working as their maid. Sometimes you just sabotaged down their private jet. Charles Tabey wasn't the first person you assassinated, just the last."

Neo swallowed audibly. "Go on. What about Roman?"

"You met Roman Torchwick when the two of you went after the same gold shipment in the Ohio Dead Zone in 1998. You two realized that you kind of liked each other and became lovers." Riana paused. "As far as we know, the love was genuine."

"It was," Neo confirmed. "I loved Roman more than I loved life itself. He loved me. That's why it hurt so much when he was killed. I don't think you've ever loved someone like that, Riana."

"I haven't," Riana agreed. "Anyhow, to finish things up, you two terrorized the Ohio Dead Zone for three years and you merged your gangs together. You still took the side assassination job when you got bored; it wasn't about the money. You were independently wealthy. You just enjoyed the kill." She shrugged. "Then Roman entered into a partnership with the White Fang, who had already entered into a partnership with Salem, and here we are."

Neo nodded. "And here we are." She leaned back in the chair. "How many people have I killed?"

"You don't remember?" Neo shook her head. "Somewhere around 200 people, I guess. Not counting the passenger airliner you shot down—that would add 150 more."

Neo's eyes widened. "I…I shot down a passenger airliner?"

"1997. The Medellin Cartel wanted a certain Colombian politician dead. You took the contract for about $750,000. The politician was on a commercial flight from Bogota to Miami. You blew it out of the air over the Gulf of Mexico." Riana saw the look of shock on Neo's face. "You can look it up, Neo. I had to, when I was putting together your backstory."

Neo's shock only increased. "That was you?"

"Grandmother assigned me to do it. It wasn't easy," Riana said. "I incorporated as much of your real life into it as possible, such as the house fire and that apparently you liked Boyz II Men. We even faked a concert ticket to explain why your picture doesn't show up in the Riverside, Iowa senior high school yearbook. If you call your old high school, you'll be told by several teachers that they remember you. They've been paid to say that, and they've probably convinced themselves by now that they really do remember you. I chose Riverside because I like Star Trek and Captain Kirk is from there...and you're really from Iowa City, which is just up the road anyway. CIA agents will testify that you passed the recruitment test right out of college—your diploma and degree in forensics from Iowa State University is fake, though you probably have enough knowledge of murder that you might as well have a degree. However, Iowa State's computers will show you as an actual student there. We employ some rather good hackers."

"This is fascinating," Neo admitted. "Go on." She glanced at the chronometer on the wall. "We're almost done anyway."

"You were recruited as an junior agent. Your file shows exemplary work for the past six years. You were shot in the head in Tehran by a local member of the Crown, which explains the amnesia. You were even operated on so you would have a scar. Nothing was taken out, though."

"And you were assigned as my 'friend,' with orders to kill me if I ever started to recall who I really was." Neo was no longer smiling.

"Yes. I didn't really want to do it, but I knew your backstory more than anyone else…and I like Boyz II Men too. We're about the same age, so we remember the same music and pop culture. I was perfect for the job, and I hated it...but that's part of what I do for my country." Riana smiled wanly. "As far as being your watcher, yes, but a funny thing happened."

"What's that?"

"I actually did become your friend. Or rather, Trivia's. The more I got to know Trivia, the more I liked her. The more I enjoyed hanging out with her." Riana looked at the ceiling, remembering. "When you're the granddaughter of the DDI of the CIA, your movement is controlled. People knew they could get to my grandmother through me or my parents. When I was five, someone tried to kidnap me. My mother was wounded saving me. She survived—you've met her—but you'll notice she has an artificial leg. The kidnapper blew her leg off with a shotgun right before Dad shot him. Grandmother found the person who ordered it. She killed him and his entire family…even the children." Riana shook her head. "I don't agree with that. Not the kids. They didn't deserve that. Grandmother told me she wanted to send a message, and the ironic thing is, she probably did. With dead kids. Imagine being told that when you're ten years old, that some kids your age are dead because their father was working for the wrong side and your granny is vengeful as hell.

"And in the CIA? Well, you have to be careful who you make friends with there, too. Most people are okay. Some are just looking to step over you on the way up to the top. Some are just trying to find some way to screw you over so they can look good in the next election cycle. Some are literally trying to screw you to get close to the DDI. Men and women."

Neo looked quizzical. "You're bi?"

"I don't know. I'm actually still a virgin, because I'm scared that the person who wants to sleep with me isn't interested in having a good time, but in getting blackmail material. Or worse, trying to kidnap me again, or cut my throat in my sleep. So I've never had a chance to figure out who I like." Another shrug. "I went to private schools. I was guarded by CIA agents 24-7. Any play dates I had were carefully vetted and scheduled when I was a kid. I never went on dates in high school. I didn't go to prom. Too much of a security issue. And here we are, seven years later, and a woman whose past I made up is suddenly the friend I never had. My parents were wonderful, my granddad was awesome, and even my grandmother I know loves me. But I never had a friend before that I could hang out with, watch bad movies, listen to great 90s bands, and paint our nails together with."

"That's a lie," Neo snapped.

"No," Riana sighed, "the only lie here is your background. I like Trivia. But you, Neo?" Riana spread her arms again. "When you pull that trigger, you'll kill Trivia along with me. But that's fine, because Trivia was Neo's first fucking victim anyway."

Neo raised the pistol, then turned it to one side…and set it down on Riana's knee, before pulling her hand back. She sniffed, then to Riana's abject surprise, she started crying. "I knew all of that about me," Neo said. "All of it...except the airliner. That part I didn't know about. I didn't know the house fire was deliberate, either. I've been doing nothing but researching myself for the past few days. I've barely slept. But I wanted to hear it from you, Riana."

Riana picked up the pistol and carefully checked the chamber. It was loaded. "I…I don't understand."

"How was I…conditioned?" Neo asked instead, though now Riana wasn't sure if she was talking to Neo at all. "Kerasine? I seem to remember…doing that. With that girl." Neo looked very puzzled. "The one I met the other day, with silver eyes. I can't remember her name."

"Do you remember what you did?" Riana asked, gently now. Do I want her to remember what she did?

Neo was silent for a full minute. "I think I hurt her."

"You did. Badly." Riana held the pistol, but it was down by her side, not pointing at Neo. "The CIA didn't use kerasine. Too primitive and it wears off too easily. Too much and the victim goes either into a fugue state that they never come out of, or they have a stroke. That's what I was told. I wasn't there for that. I wouldn't have gone even if Grandmother ordered me to. They used something else on you…something I don't know about. I was told that you would never remember…but if you did…" She motioned at the pistol.

"I started remembering a few weeks ago," Neo said. "Snippets here and there. A piece of music, or a smell." Riana nodded; those were the things people remembered more than anything. "I knew all of this was wrong. Then when I started researching Area 51, Groom Lake, and smuggling…that's when I started thinking 'we did this' or 'I remember this,' and I knew those memories couldn't be mine. And then I looked in the mirror a few days ago after getting out of the shower, and remembered my name. Then I did the research."

"And you had total recall."

Neo smiled. "Yeah. I thought that was just that weird movie." She wiped her eyes. "So. I'm Neo Politan."

"Yes," Riana answered simply.

Neo pointed at the pistol. "I didn't think this through, Riana. If you kept lying to me, I thought about maybe killing you. But you told the truth." Her smile was very sad. "How do I live with this, Riana? How do I live knowing I'm a monster?" She suddenly put her face in her hands and started sobbing. "I killed my own parents. How do I live with that? How do I live knowing that I murdered 150 men, women and children on an airliner—for money from a goddamned drug lord? And the fucking politician wasn't even on it! They died for nothing! I did that, Riana! God only knows—actually, you know—what else I did! And I don't even know if what I had with Roman was a lie! Maybe he just liked having a regular fuck buddy! Maybe he just told me he loved me so I'd put out!"

"I…" Riana was very confused now; she had to admit the last few days had been quite confusing in general. "I think that wasn't a lie, Neo."

"And so what if it was? Was Roman Torchwick a nice guy?" Neo's face came up, streaked with tears. "I read about him, too. He murdered people. He worked with terrorists. For God's sake, Riana, he worked with Salem! I worked with Salem!" She stood up; her diminuitive height ensured that she could easily do so in the Gulfstream's interior. "I did all those things…I killed all those people…and now I have to live with that. And I can't live with that. Neo Politan deserved to die. I wish she had." With effort, she wiped her eyes again, composed herself, and stood straight. "And that's why you have to kill me, Riana."

Riana found herself shaking her head. "That's crazy, Neo! I can't do that!"

"It's your job to do that!" Neo insisted. "Your grandmother's going to kill me anyway when she finds out. At least it would be from someone who cares!" She looked around the aircraft. "If you're afraid of shooting me in here…you could always throw me out somewhere. I'd die of hypoxia long before I hit the ground."

"I can't," Riana said. She picked up the pistol and threw it down the cabin, by the runway. It violated every law of gun safety there was—the Sig-Sauer was a reliable weapon, but it could still go off—but Riana was not going to kill Neo Politan. Or rather, Riana found herself smiling, I'm not going to kill Trivia Vanille.

"You have to," Neo insisted. "I can't live with this. I can't live with being who I am."

Riana stood up, reached forward, and hugged her. "Trivia, listen to me. You are no longer that person. You are no longer Neo Politan."

The other woman pulled back from the hug, and looked up at Riana, who was four inches taller. "It's…it's not that simple."

Riana kissed Trivia's forehead. "No, it's not. Nothing is. You have to live with that. But I'm glad you know the truth, Trivia."

"Why?"

"Because now you can rise above it." Riana smiled down at her. "You can be better than Neo ever was. Maybe this is who you were meant to be, if your folks had understood what was going on, and they had been able to treat it."

Trivia hugged Riana again. "Why are you so smart?"

"Majored in philosophy at West Virginia." Trivia started to laugh, and Riana joined in.

They separated and sat back down. Trivia wiped her nose—she had gotten snot on Riana's jumpsuit—and smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like her entire life. "Will your grandmother—"

"I'll have a talk with her." Riana took a deep breath. "And tell her that maybe you're worth a lot more as Trivia Vanille, awesome analyst, than brainwashed Neo Politan ever would be."

"Will she listen?"

"I'll make her listen." Riana chuckled tiredly. "Besides, I don't know of anyone else on the planet that likes Deep Blue Something."

Trivia laughed again, just as the forward door unlocked and swung down. The pilot came aboard. "Hey, who closed this thing? It's going to get stuffy in here." He saw the pistol and gingerly picked it up. "Oh shit. Who's this belong to?"

"Oh, that's mine," said Riana. "I must've dropped it when I came aboard."

He handed it back to her. "That's bad for a field agent, ma'am. I'm going to have to tell the DDI about it."

"No worries," Riana told him. "I have to talk to her anyway."

AUTHOR'S OTHER NOTES: So when I started outlining the chapter tonight, much less writing it, I didn't know I'd be writing a redemption arc for Neo-or rather, for Trivia. Depending on what happens with canon RWBY, this may be what Neo's fate is: to come out of the Tree as Trivia, with the knowledge that she was once a remorseless killer, but now a person who wants to make up for it.

This was another chapter where it was where a character ends up writing it themselves. I hadn't thought of Riana Arashikaze sharing her life story either, but the more I wrote it, the more I realized that her life probably would be a crapsack one, under constant guard, constantly worrying if everyone around her was genuine or not. She's turning out to be a rather cool OC, which means it's time for her to take a step back before she starts overshadowing the main characters. This is a RWBY story, after all.

Neo destroying an airliner is based on a real incident-Avianca Flight 203. Pablo Escobar believed that a Colombian politician he wanted dead was on the flight and had a bomb planted aboard. It killed 107 people...and the politician wasn't aboard. (The bombing led to the US government finally going after Escobar themselves.) Likewise, according to official Star Trek lore, James T. Kirk was born in Riverside, Iowa; if you go there, it's listed as his "future birthplace." And I like Deep Blue Something, actually...

Next chapter will be a lot less navel-gazing and a lot more funny stuff, with Ruby Flight getting their drunk on. And yes, a bar brawl is planned.