A possible outcome for the final episode of RWBY V7: fic version
feat: Neo redemption and oscar being cool about it
A Truce While We Gawk
So, for starters, the fight was not going well.
Somehow, despite all of the odds - this Neo lady was kind of kicking team JNR’s plus his butt. It might have been because she kept turning into each other, causing confusion on who was the real Jaune/Nora/Ren/Oscar at times. Nora had even decked Ren in the face, thinking it was Neo. That, combined with the fact that she was as slippery as a snail, made it incredibly hard for them to land a solid hit in.
However, there was a bigger problem.
Neo was targeting Oscar, exclusively. And Oscar knew he was the weakest link out of the team, the least trained. They’d been doing this huntsman stuff for like, a year, and he’d only been at it for a good four months. Even with Ozpin in his head, it wasn’t looking very good.
Neo knocked down Ren again, sliding across the floor. Nora fired a grenade from her hammer, but Neo easily deflected it with her parasol, dancing across the room, and smacking Nora upside the head. Jaune moved in, swinging his sword, but Neo blocked that too, kicking Jaune straight in the groin.
While all of team JNR was down or distracted, Neo turned towards him.
“Oh shit.” Oscar mumbled under his breath, hand drifting instinctively towards the relic.
She blasted forward to strike, Oscar dodging, turning on his heel to run. The red tinted corridors faded into a watercolor blur as he dashed down the endless hallways, breath coming out in ragged gasps. Neo wasn’t far behind, the clicking of her heels against the marble floor sounding like the tolls of death to him. He could feel his lungs giving out, and Neo getting closer, team JNR calling after him -
“JINN!!”
The noise stopped. The world stopped.
The sirens outside falling silent.
Neo, however, did not.
As a matter of fact, she ran straight into him, tackling Oscar and pulling him down to the floor. The two of them wrestled on the ground, Neo grabbing for the relic, Oscar holding it away from her, using his free hand to scratch Neo on the face -
“What is going on here?!”
Ah.
The familiar voice of Jinn caused the two of them to stop, both turning to see the giant woman glaring at them, arms crossed, chains floating around her. Neo gasped, backing away, crab-style, heterochromic eyes wide with terror.
“I’ve been summoned twice now as a getaway tactic, not to use for questions, Oscar Pine.” Jinn scowled, dark eyes narrowing. “Do you understand how annoying that is?”
Neo’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, her hat sliding off her head. Oscar sighed.
“S - sorry. I just -”
“Don’t ‘sorry’ me, Oscar Pine. I already told your friend that I wouldn’t let this go again.”
“Wait, what -” Neo held up a hand, cutting them both off, looking mildly freaked out. Walking down the hall, they saw that team JNR, sure enough, was frozen mid-run, all of their expressions frenetic and fearful.
“I guess it’s a radius thing.” Oscar remarked. Neo didn’t respond. (Actually, as a matter of fact, she hadn’t said anything the entire encounter - which was kind of odd.)
“Well,” Jinn scoffed, advancing. “One of you had better ask a question.”
Oscar looked at Neo. Neo looked at Oscar. The atmosphere changing from two people trying to kill each other to two people who were both mutually confused. A truce while they gawk.
“Uhhhhh…” Oscar was rudely shoved aside by Neo, holding up her hand.
“Do you want to ask me something, Neo Politan?” Jinn questioned.
Neo nodded, and words began to form behind her in pink sparks of glass, before shattering across the floor.
How did Roman Torchwick die?
Jinn smiled.
“It’s a simple answer, really.” Once again, the world around him shifted, blown away into blue mist, as a different scene blossomed forward.
It was the fall of Beacon. Grimm crowded the skies, ships positioned in all different directions. Below the ship they were standing on, Oscar could see the city, overrun with Grimm as well. He gasped, drawing back from the edge of the ship.
What was most frightening was that this scene was familiar.
“Roman Torchwick had taken over the general’s ship.” Jinn began, her voice ringing throughout the scene. Neo flinched. Oscar didn’t. “His work in this tragedy was small, but impactful. And now he was making his getaway.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Oscar spotted a red streak shooting upward towards the ship. He backed away instinctively, but Ruby Rose passed harmlessly through him, pulling out her scythe out from the locker she had been riding on.
“His lackey, Neo Politan, was not going to let this young upstart ruin her best friend and boss’s plan.” Sure enough, emerging from a disguise blowing away into pink glass, Neo appeared, albeit looking different and a bit younger. The two began to fight, each blow sounding far away and muted. The present Neo looked on with distant awe and confusion.
“But, of course, Ruby Rose got the upper hand.” As Torchwick and her fought, Ruby opened Neo’s umbrella, causing the smaller girl to be blown away. “And then, there were two.”
It took a minute to realize Torchwick was saying something. “You know, I’ve never been a gambling man,” Jinn narrated, over the man. “But even I know there are some bets you just don’t take.”
“But in the confusion,” The scene swiveled, to show a small black speck in the distance, getting bigger. “Neither of them noticed the real threat.”
Once again the scene shifted, to show Torchwick beating Ruby mercilessly over the head with his cane, frantically shouting about how he would never lose.
“And, like all men who cheat their way to the top…” Oscar and Neo saw the Grimm descend before Torchwick did, Neo’s eyes wide in horror. “His own arrogance was his undoing.”
“And Roman Torchwick was swallowed whole.”
Neo and Oscar stared on in shock, as the scene faded back to the present, Jinn’s form twisting and disappearing back into the lamp.
JNR rushed around the corner, only to stop when they saw the two of them just… staring at the spot where they had seen Torchwick die.
Despite the sirens outside, it was silent.
Oh.
Despite the words being made of glass and not spoken, Oscar could almost hear the despair in them.
“...It wasn’t your fault.” Oscar mumbled, finally getting why Neo was attacking him. She had wanted answers. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Silence.
Neo sniffed quietly, pulling the brim of her hat down, umbrella falling from her hands. Oscar slowly, tentatively, put a hand on the girl’s shoulder, unsure of quite what to do, but doing it anyways.
“I… I don’t really know you.” She looked up at him eyes filled with unspeakable sorrow. “But what I can say is that you’re making a mistake.” Pulling away, Neo crossed her arms, holding herself as if to keep the broken pieces of herself together. “You know this isn’t right. And… you seem like a good person, but right now, you’re making all the wrong choices.”
Nobody spoke. Not even Nora, whose face was slipping from anger to confusion.
...It wasn’t Ruby’s fault. The words formed behind her again, wavering illusions of pink glass that shattered on the floor. Or Cinder’s. Not even Salem’s.
Taking her hat off, she pressed it against her chest.
And I think that’s worse.
The words behind her didn’t stay for long, not before Neo crumpled to the floor, tears silently streaming down her face. Oscar and team JNR looked on, and then, he knew what to do.
Ozpin was a fighter. Team RWBY and team JNR were fighters.
But he had never been one. And turns out, he’s what this situation needed.
Oscar slowly sat down on the floor next to her, not saying anything. He didn’t really know what to say, so he just let Neo cry for a bit.
...I’ve been stupid. The words were small, fitting right into Oscar’s hand. I mean, I was a criminal, not a villain. Fuck, I teamed up with Cinder, of all people. I hate her!
“You worked with Cinder?” Oscar replied. Neo nodded, standing.
She’s an asshole, but she told me… she told me what I wanted to hear, I think. That it was Ruby’s fault. Neo stood, still facing the wall. I thought if… if I made Ruby hurt like I hurt, then maybe I’d feel better. Like I could pound the hurt into her. Her head slumped against the wall, a sad yet sardonic smile slipping onto her face. I’m an idiot.
“Well,” Jaune piped up, confusion lacing his tone but pressing on anyways. “I uh, don’t think it’s too late to fix this. Cinder’s here, right?” Neo looked up. “Maybe you could help us stop her.”
Neo sniffed, some semblance of her haughty saunter from earlier returning. By no means does this make us friends. She spelled out finally, the glass words big and vibrant above her head. As soon as Cinder’s down, I’m leaving.
“Fine by me.” Ren replied. “So can you tell us where she is?”
