Author's Note at end of chapter. Enjoy, and Happy Easter.
The wind howled as she sat on the cliffs edge. Neo wasn't going to jump this time. It wasn't worth the effort. She had done her best these past few months to keep going. Explore, and find new places, new people so maybe she could find a place to fit in. In a world where everything no matter how broken had a place, why didn't she?
The last three months had been rough for Neo. Days felt like years, and it seemed like she was losing time, because every time she would get back to her feet she would be thrown somewhere else. Whenever she blinked it felt like another week had gone by, maybe it was just because she hadn't been sleeping much. Maybe it was because every day was filled with awful nightmares whether she was awake or asleep.
Sometimes she would have small lapses in consciousness during the day, and would come to in a completely different acre than she was in before. No memory of any nightmares, or how she could've even got there. Everything was so backwards here. She couldn't help but laugh.
So thats what she did. Neo laughed, and laughed, and laughed, until tears streamed down her face and she was crying. Nobody could hear her though. Even when she wanted to scream to the heavens and ask the gods why she was being punished so.
Neo couldn't remember much. She could barely remember why she was so mad… She couldn't remember who she was mad at besides him. Why was it that he was treated better than she? She hadn't been the best, but she had tried her best right? That should be enough to not be punished every moment.
He got to rest. He didn't have to deal with anything as bad as she did here. She just wanted to sleep without nightmares. Just for one night. She pleaded with whatever god was listening as she sat here.
When she first woke up down here it felt like years ago. Maybe it had been. It was so hard to sleep, and the days and nights blended together. How many weeks had passed since the last time she slept a full night. How long had it been since she slept without nightmares.
So she sat on the edge. The soft sound of whistling coming from her lips. It was one of her favorites. One of the few things she could remember besides Roman. She would try her hardest to find what laid in the depths of her brain, but oh how hard it was to remember.
Neo rarely whistled, but now it helped tell her that she was still real at very least. When you couldn't trust your eyes, or ears you hoped you would at least be able to trust the feeling of the breath leaving your own lips.
Roman sat next to her looking pristine as he always did. His white jacket wrapped around him almost like an angel or knight of the gods, the extra padding he put in to protect him seeming to stick out like plates of armor. How fitting. He had always been her protector after all.
It was Jaune's fault that Roman was dead. She could barely remember Red for good reason. Why should she be so focused on her when Jaune was the one who caused these problems. His partner was the one who had to mess things up. It was Him who brought the rest of his team to help the little reaper on her journey to Haven. He stopped her from being able to be done with this. She was stuck here because of Him. If Jaune didn't take her with him that very first day down here then maybe she'd have been able to go back and fix her mistakes. He was the reason she had to live like this. He was the reason she couldn't just live in the Toy Town, or Green City and had to live in the wilderness.
Hate was so hot in her chest that it blossomed into tears, and then into laughter once more. She would get him. Even if it killed her. She promised herself that one thing. Even the gods of this world wouldn't be able to deny her this. It was here where she sat, a promise made to kill the knight of the Ever After. She may not have been able to succeed before, but eventually she would even if she had to convince the knight to do it by his own hand.
If she couldn't kill him with her own two hands then she would make him wish he was dead.
She would have to wait, but she was okay with that. It felt like time was the one of the few things she had in abundance. The wind underneath her feet made her feel like she could walk on the very air, and she found that if she tried hard enough she could infact do just that.
The first time she had come here she threw herself over this very spot expecting to finally be done, but when instead of hitting the water at the bottom or being thrown violently against the cliff side she was tossed softly back up onto the ledge. Neo had tried twice more, with the same results. She thought maybe she if she sat down and slid her way off it wouldn't catch her, but yet again she fell only unto the soft grass that blanketed the acre.
So instead she came to feel the wind as a whole. Here she would listen to it sing, whistle, and howl. All beautiful songs, that only the air could play. She stepped off the edge, and instead of pushing her back, or finally letting her fall it allowed her to stand, and walk, and move with nothing beneath her feet. Neo wasn't the most talented at dancing, but she enjoyed it more than most things. A way to express feelings through movements and not words.
It was an odd feeling being lighter than air, but one she was thankful for. Neo danced for hours, until she could barely stand even on the air. Gently she was guided back to the cliffside. For a day she was allowed peace. For a day Neo had fun here. She planned on having much more of it. For now though she could wait. Spending her days planning, dancing, and searching didn't sound too bad. Even if the dreams, and tree would try to stop her.
For the first time in longer than she could remember Neo fell asleep with a smile gracing her features.
Nightmares did not haunt her as the soft grass blanketed her. It was the best sleep she'd had in possibly years. Dreams of running from cops, and huntsmen, rolling around piles of money with Roman. The date that he had promised her when their job with Cinder finished. She would remember each and every second of those dreams. For these were the best moments she had experienced since the fall of Beacon.
The tree payed close attention to this scene. Watching the girl smile in her sleep gave the tree a feeling it didn't think it felt for the girl. Care. Of course it didn't want her to kill Jaune. He was necessary to it, but what right did it have to punish her the way it did when it never punished the Curious Cat as directly.
Maybe it was because it expected the Cat to receive some form of punishment from the knight's friends, or maybe it was because it had been here so long that it couldn't find it in itself to punish the creature. One of the few who also remember the brothers.
Maybe this Jaune Arc would grow just as well with Neopolitan here. It had already broken the girl, yet she still managed to find happiness even in her dreams. The knight had dealt with worse than Neopolitan in past loops after all. Maybe it would make them both better. It had seen him come here when he had built a relationship with her before he came down here, and he had been even more resilient and ready to face whatever came his way here to get back to his friends.
The god was curious to see how things could go if they were left (mostly) unbothered. It would watch their dreams as it usually did. Such easy things to see after all. The god loved watching the fantasies that the people who visited would dream up.
It could manage to stay out of the minds of the people in it's world during the day, but it just couldn't resist sneaking into their dreams to watch. The stories they would create. Their worst fears, biggest hopes, and secret desires. Even dreams had their own secrets, and hidden meanings. It was interesting to see that even their own mind could give its owner a puzzle to solve. Sometimes even puzzling the god about what the meaning could be.
It had never seen Neopolitan dream the way she did now whenever she was in the Ever After before. Then again Neopolitan had never been here this long. These were some of the first happy dreams it had seen the girl have since she reunited with Jaune all those cycles back.
A god's dreaming was almost pointless. When anything it could dream of would be real with little effort. Fantasy would be reality, and here it had become just that. It enjoyed the unpredictable, and the people of Remnant were as unpredictable as it came. It enjoyed just watching things come and go as they may with little intervention.
Why had it changed this time? Why had it allowed itself to tamper with things the way it did. It had it's main purpose, and of course it would change things, but the natural course each and every time the knight fell was something it had usually managed to interfere with minimally and with few exceptions. Of course that wasn't to say it didn't intervene at all. That would be a lie, but it did try to allow things to go the way they would naturally. If she fell into some of the pockets that it made on her own then the tree wouldn't complain about that either.
Both the knight, and the thief slept unbothered under the tree's watch. It would make sure that nothing would be allowed to harm them while they rested, but it would not do much more than that until the time called for it. The knight had been dreaming for a while, over ninety days now in fact. He would have to be woken up fairly soon, but for a bit longer he could sleep.
It was interesting though. The tree had rarely seen Jaune shatter the way he did when he came down. His own guilt, and cynicism so balled up that all it took was him falling into this place for it to manifest into it's own "being" in his head.
Both of them had come here broken as they always did. In some way or another Jaune Arc, and Neopolitan were always broken when they fell into the Great Tree's realm. Sometimes left in so many pieces that it was almost impossible for them to pick themselves up. The tree enjoyed Jaune, because every time he managed to get up. It was fun just to see the hero of the Ever After rebuild himself time and time again never the same as the last.
It would be very interesting to see how he did it this time.
When Neo woke up something felt different. She couldn't pinpoint why or how but it was different. Everything looked the same as it had before when she fell asleep. Maybe it was having the first good nights rest in longer than she could remember. The dreams still lingering fresh in her mind as she closed her eyes and took in the peaceful morning.
When Neo created Roman the man smiled at her, and offered her his hand. Softly she took it not wanting to break him. He was stronger than he looked, but still there was something that scared her about pulling on him like this.
It was going to be an interesting day for the girl. Her weapon's put onto her belt, and her hat onto her head. Today was going to be a nice day she felt. She deserved more than a few of those after all, and no matter what came her way she planned on collecting.
Through the acres she traveled, and she didn't experience one nightmarish portal. It was odd. After all for months, or even years it felt like every day would have something to torment her in a new, and twisted way. Nothing happening was unnerving in its own right now.
She did notice the way people stared at her though. A mixture of fear, and surprise across their faces as they saw a smile across her own. Why wouldn't she smile. It was shaping up to be an excellent day, and she just knew that soon she would get her chance to make the knight's life worse.
Maybe she would stop by the Green acre, and watch him slumber. She wouldn't do anything yet, but it would be nice to stop by. Maybe she would get to see some of the results of her hard work while there. Neo skipped along, and as she came to the edge of the city a thought passed through her mind.
What if it's all fake?
Just another dream concocted by this hellscape. Her smile died, and her paranoia returned in full force. How could she find out if this time it was real or not. Her memories so jumbled that she just could not be sure.
'How can I figure it out?'
It's not like she could trust her senses, or any feeling besides her own breathing. Even then was she really positive that she wasn't dead? Could she even provide herself proof, or would she just have to trust that this time things were real. Even if she had been through so many fake things that felt much more real than the grass underneath her feet.
It didn't even feel right to call those things fake. They had to be real in some sense of the word. She could still remember the worst of the feelings she had felt, and instinctually rubbed a hand over her chest. If this was what reality felt like truly, then it was so much lighter than she remembered it being. She might as well try to enjoy whatever this was while she had it.
The sun set as she found the knight's resting place once more still protected as it had been before. The man in rags, and the soldier stared at her. Their eyes still shining even if she couldn't see their faces at all. She laid her weapons down, and made Roman shatter. A small pang in her heart as she did.
'I am not here to harm him yet.'
The two guards nod, sensing no dishonesty from her. Even when she passes right by the two she can't see their faces. It would unnerve her more if the last few months hadn't happened, but now it felt more normal than the past two days had to her.
She walked up the side of the tomb that held the sleeping knight. Neo lightly dragged her hand along the top of the glass that let her see inside, and admired her handiwork. Clad in only a pair of briefs the knight laid almost deathly still.
Wounds closed, and scarred over. Even if she hadn't even begun to start she had already left a mark that he couldn't get rid of, and it made her proud. Even when he eventually woke up he would still carry what she left. Despite how scrambled her brain seemed to be her memory flashed with each scar. She could recall exactly when, and how she left each different one on him.
His back must be just as scarred as his chest. It saddened Neo a little that she couldn't see everything she had done to him, but alas she would have her chances in the future. Slowly her eyes roamed the knight's body. Some of his scars weren't from her. Something that bothered her more than it should have. She can fix that later though as well. Nothing she couldn't cover up with her own marks.
When she finally gazed at his face she took extra care to take in every detail. She wanted to remember the face of the one she hated so much. His eyes were closed his sleep, and he had grown a beard. It wasn't long, but it was still there nonetheless. His hair had also grown longer, and his lips were turned down slightly, like he was having a bad dream.
Good.
Maybe it was part of the process that went on in the coffin, or maybe it was from having two sun's constantly shining on him that he had a small amount of white hairs mixed into the blonde. Not noticeable to most, but Neo was studying every detail of the knight. Down to the number of his eyelashes, and the way he would ever so slightly twitch or how his lips would move ever so subtley.
Neo fought the urge to try and break through the glass when she saw his lips turn upwards for just a moment.
How dare he be allowed to experience joy even in his dreams. She drew her mouth back into a snarl, her anger overtaking her. Every second she looked at him it reaffirmed her hatred for the knight.
It was an unnatural feeling in an unnatural world. She could almost feel the obsession grow as she kept observing. Sometimes she would slip into small daydreams of what she would do when he crawled into her clutches after she broke him.
Tormenting him would be so very fun. Even when she couldn't be hands on she would make sure that she made his day ever so slightly worse at the very least.
Slipping into another daydream Neo could see the moment she broke him truly. When he begged for her to kill him, and when she denied that wish. She could see him slowly kill himself after that. Depriving himself of food and water. She wouldn't do anything about it except watch at that point. Maybe then he could experience a fraction of what she had.
When she slipped out of this one she realized she had fallen asleep against the tomb. She must have been more tired than she had thought. It was time for her to leave. She would visit him again tomorrow.
The soldier, and man in rags were no longer there. They had been replaced by the knight's pet fox. The creature was noticeably larger than the last time she saw it. It growled at her. A sound that didn't threaten her in the slightest. She walked past, picked up her weapons, and left the creature to it's master.
Neo needed new clothes, and a bath. She smelled, and looked like hammered shit. She wanted to feel better, and a good cleaning, and some wardrobe additions would help. It wasn't just that she wanted new clothes. It was that Neo also wanted to prove she was better than the knight in every way including presentation.
First she would bathe, and wash her tattered clothes to the best of her ability. The only piece of clothing that seemed unscathed was Roman's hat. Even that was dirtied a bit, and smelled of her sweat.
She bathed in the knights house where she had spent the night before. It laid empty, but still stood for now, and who better to use it than her. The thought that he even was allowed to have a home that was this nice pissed her off. He deserved nothing, and she would take Everything from him.
Jaune had a book of basic instructions for how to do some of the more menial things, and the equivalents to the day to day technology that he had either discovered or had been told about by the people of the Ever After he had come across. It felt like everyone in this place seemed to like him.
Neo washed her clothes, and tossed them into a brown sack that had the word DryerBag written on it. Grabbing a single orange flower petal from the jar labeled Quick Dry Neo crushed the dried leaf, and dropped it into the bag alongside her clothes. As she shook the bag she could feel it heat up, and see steam leave the sack through the mesh, she kept on going for 2 minutes before stopping. Pulling her clothes out of the bag.
'Still damp. Are you shitting me?'
Dropping in another crushed petal Neo shakes the bag vigorously once more. Her arms are a little tired now, but as long as her clothes were dry she didn't care. Reaching into the bag. Neo feels her now dry, and now extremely hot clothes. The washing didn't magically remove the small holes or permanent marks that were left on the garments, but it was better than her other clothing options in the house.
Getting dressed Neo realizes that it's even a little bit worse than she thought. These clothes were damn near ruined. Maybe Needle or Thread could fix it though? She hadn't seen them in a while. Or had she? She knew she'd been through the King's Acre a few times in the past couple months, but just like everything else she couldn't remember what happened.
It would be good to check the acre out anyways. It wasn't just clothes that she needed after all, she needed a bit of everything. Jaune's house was almost completely barren of food besides the disgusting yellow fruit. No wonder he had named it the Yuk fruit. It was hard to describe how much she despised the food. Just one more thing to hate about the knight. Seriously how did he eat this?
Neo left around noon, and made her way to the King's acre with her semblance active to make her outfit look a little nicer. She also took some valuables, and things she knew she could trade in town from his house.
The people in the town had seen Neo pass through these past few months, and even a couple days before, but were surprised to not see her in a daze or with some odd expression like usual. For the first time in a while she seemed actually aware. The townspeople greeted her kindly as usual, and Thread was more than happy to see her back to normal. He asked her what had been going on with her the past few months, but Neo couldn't really describe being tortured by an angry god with the worst experiences and nightmares imaginable for three months because she hurt it's favorite knight a little too badly.
So instead she told him that the loss of her partner really hit her, and she had gotten into a really bad place because of it. He accepted her answer easily, and when she asked what changed around the town he told her that the Blacksmith had been gone for almost three months, but left him a note that he would be allowed to use the shop, and forge if he wanted. He also told her that some new shop vendors came in, and Needle had been very down since Jaune had been attacked.
Apparently she would even visit him sometimes. An uncommon occurrence as most inhabitants of the Ever After would stick almost exclusively to their acre. The fact that one of them would travel was surprising to say the least. Neo then asked Thread if he could make clothes for her or if that was something Needle would be better to ask. The puppet said he could make her clothes, but Needle would definitely be more suited than him to do it, and if she wanted something a bit quicker Neo could always go to one of the other shops.
So Neo thanked him, and left her weapons with him to look over while she went around looking for things she could buy and trade. Stopping by Needle's shop she saw the doll was downtrodden. She probably had been that way for a while if Neo had to take a guess. When Neo asked if she could make her clothes the doll said yes, but as usual it would take a while, and just like her brother Needle told her to stop by a couple of the other shops if she needed something new immediately. Neo told her what she wanted, and paid the woman with some bags of flowers, and other plants she had taken from the knight's house.
It wasn't like she couldn't use Jaune's books, and notes to find more anyways, and if worst came to worst she was still a pretty damn good thief.
The search for clothing wasn't as arduous as she had thought it would be. With the more magical elements coming out to play with most of the places that sold clothes. All of the clothes fit her exactly how she wanted, and while the quality wasn't usually as nice as what the resident seamstress provided it was more than good enough. One of the shops was just a closet that would provide the outfit you wanted. The prices were high there, but it wasn't like she was spending her own money or trading her own items after all. Maybe tomorrow she would get some new boots.
She put the clothes in her bag, and continued to go through the shops. She didn't stop at every single one, but she went into more than a few. When she left the town the sun was beginning to set, and the acres were bathed in the gold light of fading day. Her bag was full just as it had it been when she had left this time with clothes, and food.
Neo had never gone through the Rusty Acre, or if she did then she didn't have any memory of it. Maybe it was time to finally explore it. The bridge didn't creak all that much, but Neo was still wary of it nonetheless.
To her the Rusty Acre felt like a graveyard. The corpses of ships of all kinds, relics, and statues of what must've been other gods, and heroes. Skeletons of ancient vehicles, and all sorts of other things that looked like they had been swallowed up by the ocean. She had no idea where this stuff had come from, but if this was where all the missing shit that disappeared into the sea went she wouldn't be surprised. There were definitely a few things that had come from this place though. Trees made of metal sometimes popping up from the ground, rusty leaves littered the floorof the acre. Maybe it was fall in this place?
It had more life than she had expected as well with wind up birds, squirrels and bugs inhabiting the place. She even caught a few of the rodents nibbling on some rusty bolts, and screws. The mountains of metal scraps stood tall still, and she looked through them for anything she might find useful or interesting. She couldn't spend too much time here though could she? It was almost night after all, and She could always come back tomorrow to explore. Before she left Neo tipped her hat to the acre and it's creatures wishing them a silent farewell, and a promise to be back tomorrow.
Jaune was trapped in his own mind. He knew it now. Inside dreams he resided. It was nice sometimes. Other times he would have rather been in the Ever After. It was times like these where he really wished he could just wake up somehow. He had no clue how long he was stuck in these dreams, but it felt like a while.
He had been in Beacon in his most recent dream, and he had enjoyed these dreams at first. Spending time with his friends even if they were just in his imagination. Going to classes with his team and team RWBY. Everyone alive and happy. Then the scene changed to that fateful night.
Pyrrha kissed Jaune, but for some reason he couldn't feel it. When she pushed him into the locker he tried jamming the blade in the door to stop it from closing. He managed to catch it, but the blade shattered. Leaving nothing but the half of the blade stained with blood. He pushed, and pushed and eventually the door gave way. Letting him out of the locker.
The blonde fell to the ground, and when he landed he could have sworn he broke his legs, but it was just a dream. He need not worry about what he felt or didn't in here. Even if it wasn't real though he would still try to save Pyrrha. He could do it this time he knew it. He raced to the top of the building. When he made it to his destination he had managed to catch Pyrrha, and Cinder still fighting. It was completely one sided, but maybe he could distract her for long enough that Pyrrha could escape.
He tried to sprint towards the fight, but he was stopped by nobody other than himself. His biggest problem in these dreams. The one who ruined every single one no matter how good they would start.
"You don't get to stop this. You have to live with your failures. You have to live with me!"
"Please… I just need to help her. Just this one time." Jaune's voice broke as he looked upon the facsimile
"You can't. No matter what you do she's still dead. You don't get to change that."
"Not even in my own mind?"
"Not even here."
Jaune tries willing the fight between Cinder, and Pyrrha to stop, but he can't. Even in his dreams it seems like he could do nothing. Nobody but himself to blame for his torment. This piece of himself more than willing to let him suffer. Jaune tries to race past himself, but his own shield gets in his way. He would just have to fight him like all the other times it seemed. Even though he never won he could never give up.
"It doesn't matter how good you are. I am always going to be just good enough that you can never beat me. Just a little too far out of reach. Just like everything else you want in life."
Jaune swung anyways. He never landed a single blow. Usually he could at the very least graze the clone, but instead he was focused on the slaughter behind him. Cinder was toying with Pyrrha. A gleeful expression across her face. He couldn't stand it.
Even when he made it in time he still couldn't save anyone. In an instant it changed from playing with the girl to torturing her. Every slice took a chunk out of his partner. Every arrow pierced her armor, and each cry made jaune's heart clench.
"This isn't real… It's not real! IT'S NOT REAL!" Jaune screamed
"And how would you know that? This could be the most real version of the fight you've thought up so far. You weren't there. Were you? You just know how it ends."
Of couse he did. When Ruby told him he played the scene in his head a million times in a million different ways. It stopped him from sleeping some of the nights with team RNJR. It's why being a hero came second to making sure he was strong enough, and always there for his remaining friends. He couldn't stand the thought of being so weak that he couldn't be their shield at the very least. When Weiss got pierced by the spear Jaune felt like it was completely useless even though he felt he had improved enough to be there. Just one more failure from the fraud knight he thought.
The final blow to Pyrrha came all the same for him in this dream as well the arrow pierced her heart, and Cinder walked up to her as she turned to embers, and blew away just as Ruby had said.
"See? no matter what you can't change what happened to her. Even in your dreams it's not allowed. You can't truly save anyone. Even with Weiss you didn't really protect her did you? You just got lucky with your semblance." The fake Jaune yells at him before fading away just like everything else did.
Even if he couldn't save anyone. He could still avenge the people who had died or been harmed by Cinder's hand. He could still make sure her, and all of her lackeys paid the price. Even in his own dreams he could promise himself that.
Author's Note:
As the title of the chapter suggests this chapter is pretty much just a useless timeskip with little purpose. I did very much enjoy writing this chapter, and to those who celebrate Happy Easter. I hope you are all doing well, and I'm sorry for not getting this chapter out. I couldn't think of anything good, and still couldn't even when writing.
This chapter exactly as the title says is a useless timeskip that probably feels really random. The only purpose of it was to stop Neo's constant nightmares, give a bit of Jaune, and set a couple things up poorly. For everyone reading this it probably feels completely pointless, and it kind of is. I think the next chapter of RSSH should be better, and Favors will be getting a new chapter really soon as I have finished writing that one which was also difficult to write for no reason.
I also apologize as usual for my laziness. I hope you all can forgive me. Also I think I might start answering some of the reviews in the authors notes starting with the next chapter of Favors.
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.