Chapter Eleven: New Faces

Jaune blinked a few times, cleaning out one ear before asking her to repeat herself. She did, repeated it with the same sincerity. Jaune shook his head, "Ruby this —Ruby hold on. You can't just-"

"YOU'RE FUCKING RIGHT SHE CAN'T!"

Yang charged the two, and if it weren't for Ruby standing in front of him Yang might have killed the Arc right then and there. The murder in her eyes had to be directed at something, and since it couldn't be Ruby… well, she went with the next closest target.

Jaune held up his hands, "Ruby, I know you want to help Velvet but… but this? Ruby this is insane! You can't just leave Yang and her crew to join mine!"

Ruby frowned, "Why not?"

Jaune took a step back, "Because… be —because… you… well… okay, you shouldn't leave Yang to join my crew!"

"Why not?"

Yang's arm shot out, grabbing her sister's, "Because I am not letting my baby sister risk her life to try and find people that are probably already dead!" she tried dragging her back, expecting Ruby to come quietly now that she knew she was serious.

She hadn't expected Ruby to stand her ground.

The two glared at each other, Ruby's feet refusing to move as Yang tightened her already vice-like grip. Ruby ignored the pain, still glaring at her sister, unwilling to back down.

Jaune finally stepped between them, hands on both Ruby and Yang's wrists, "Yang, let go. Let's just-"

POW!

Jaune's aura didn't particularly help him when Yang's fist slammed into her face, knocking him to the deck. Neo dashed to him first, Appi and Penny following shortly after. Ruby would've run over to him if she wasn't still held in that tight grip of Yang's.

Neo crouched by his side, barely thinking as she pulled his head into her lap. Appi held a hand over it, tattoos glowing green as the damage worked to heal itself. He groaned, "Should've figured… hard to talk her down when she's mad…"

Neo glared at the sisters, gripping her hands into fists. Jaune laid a hand over hers, drawing her eyes to him just in time for him to shake his head. "It's alright, Neo. If I can just calm them down we can work this out."

Neo's eyes widened, "Can you comfort them if they're scared?"

Jaune raised an eyebrow, "Umm… yeah? Why do you… wait, Neo! Don't!" Jaune started saying as Neo stood, walking toward them.

He stood, walking over to her and leaning down, "Don't listen to what I say, alright?" he whispered. Neo gave a subtle nod, continuing to walk toward them.

The sisters took notice, eyes flicking to them as Jaune pretended to struggle and hold back Neo —who he could definitely hold back almost effortlessly. He dashed to the sisters, "Neo! You don't have to do this! Stop!"

Neo closed her eyes, light surrounding her.

Yang and Ruby's eyes widened as they stepped back, watching the light slowly moving up, forming a shape almost as tall as the sails. Ruby ducked behind her sister, Yang instinctively standing in front of her as the light took shape.

The light faded, and a giant fish-man stood before them.

Jaune didn't have to act the 'awestruck' part —that was genuine. If he had to guess, it was a larger version of what Neo'd seen the night before. Something that —thankfully —Yang and Ruby didn't recognize.

Jaune stepped in front of Yang, holding up his hands at the creature's illusions face, "Neo! I'm fine! You don't have to hurt them! STOP!" he let a touch of desperation slip into his voice —just to make it that much more convincing.

The beast bared its teeth before turning back into light, shrinking down before disappearing, revealing a rather angry looking Neo behind. Jaune turned, seeing fear in Yang's eyes for the first time… well, ever.

He took a step away from them, Neo walking over and wrapping her arms around his waist, glaring at the blonde pirate. Both sisters just stared, slack-jawed at what she'd just seen.

Jaune leaned down, lifting Neo so her head was even with his, laying an arm on her back. He gave Yang an apologetic smile, Neo leaning into his neck, "Sorry about that. She uh… really doesn't like it when someone tries to hurt me."

Yang gulped, eyes flicking over the tiny girl that —moments prior —had been a giant fish monster. Ruby stepped past her sister, tentatively taking a step closer to Jaune.

Said pirate just laughed, "It's okay, she's calmed down now. Anyway… you were saying, Yang?" He gestured to his fellow blonde.

Yang just blinked a few times, eyes never wavering from the back of Neo's head, "Where did you find her?"

Jaune decided to play the 'Neo' card for all it was worth, "Vale. Fished her out of the ocean after she tried to assassinate Emperor Ozpin."

He felt Neo stiffen as Yang and Ruby went wide-eyed, both gazing at the 'master assassin' in Jaune's arms. Little did they know, the only thing Neo was a master of was cooking… more precisely cutting vegetables —but hey, it still counts.

Ruby turned to Yang, seemingly semi-recovered from the incident, "If they have someone like that with them, I'll be fine Yang. Besides, Jaune won't even let me off the boat, will you?"

She pouted slightly when Jaune nodded, affirming her fear that it would just be a boring boat trip. Though, that did ease some of Yang's worries.

She took a breath, "I can't believe I'm saying this but… okay."

Ruby shot almost a foot in the air, wrapping her arms around her sister before disappearing in a cloud of rose petals —likely going to get her things since the door to Yang's ship was open.

Yang stopped a foot from Jaune, "And Arc?"

Jaune gulped, "Yes?"

Yang was about to grab him by the collar when she saw Neo shift slightly, her fingers freezing just above it. She let her hand fall limp at her side, "If anything happens to Ruby? If you don't get her back to our base in a month? I'll find you," she stepped closer,

"Skin you."

Jaune could feel her against his chest.

"Cut off your balls and nail them to the side of my ship!"

Now she did grab him by the collar, whispering her last threat into his ear.

Neo turned her head, a sidelong glare sending Yang's hand back. She glared at him, "If Ruby gets hurt, you're a dead man —assassin bodyguard or not."

Yang stormed off, Jaune's face pale as he looked at Neo. Her eyes —now that Yang and Ruby were gone —were suddenly much more terrified. He gave a faint smile, "Well… good thing they didn't know anything about you, huh?"

Neo nodded rapidly, nearly burying her face in his neck, arms wrapping around his shoulders. Jaune didn't protest, simply carrying her as he had been during his and Yang's conversation.

He'd walked back to the wheel by the time he saw Ruby dash toward him, a young, brown-haired rabbit faunus in tow. Ruby, of course, had two things with her she never left the ship without:

Her rifle… and her corgi.

Ruby dashed across the deck, Zwei barking alongside her. While Ruby and Zwei leaped across the gap between the ships easily, the taller faunus behind them was a bit less sure-footed. As Ruby and Zwei dashed toward Jaune (and by extension Neo), Velvet tripped across the makeshift bridge, falling face-first onto the deck.

Jaune tapped Neo's shoulder, the tiny girl leaning back to look up at him, "You don't have to pretend to be so overprotective of me —Yang already said yes."

Neo looked down at his chest, her face turning red. She pulled off him, taking a few steps back as Jaune made his way toward the faunus girl.

Speaking of, Velvet was just getting to her feet when she saw the tall (acting) captain approach her. She shot upright, tense as the Arc held up his hands. Jaune smiled, "Nid aax Zu'u seik (No harm I mean)."

Yeah… he wasn't exactly fluent in faunus-speak.

Velvet slowly nodded… she could vaguely understand what he meant from that at least, "Dreh hi tinvaak dii vun? (Do you speak my tongue?).

Jaune… heard something rather different.

His face went bright red as he interpreted it to mean 'Do you want my tongue?' —to his credit, certain dialects of faunus-speak were rather hard to translate. He shook his head, "Nid! Nid vun! (No! No tongue!).

Once more, Velvet was confused. He was speaking her language, wasn't he? Why was he acting so strange? Why did his sentences make so little sense?

After watching Jaune flounder on his words for a few more seconds, Appi finally decided to do something. She stood, tapping on Jaune's shoulder and pointing behind her. He got the message, heading back toward Neo and leaving Velvet with someone that could more easily talk with her.

Jaune walked back to the wheel, smiling as he saw Penny cuddling Zwei —Ruby laying her rifle to the side.

She sensed him a moment later, smiling as she turned to face him, "Hi Jaune —op! Sorry, Captain Jaune!"

Jaune sighed, a faint smile on his face as Ruby gave a slight giggle, "Just call me Jaune, Ruby. Glad to have you aboard… well, for a little while anyway."

Ruby nodded, eyes flicking between him and Neo before she gulped, tugging on her collar, "Umm… she's not going to do the whole 'turn into a giant fishy monster thingy' again is she?"

Jaune shook his head, "No, don't worry. She wouldn't hurt you —right Neo?"

Neo nodded, giving Ruby a bright smile —one eye flashing pink as the other turned white. Ruby's eyes widened a bit as she leaned down to Neo's height, tilting her head slightly, "Are you controlling what color your eyes are?"

Neo nodded.

Ruby gasped, "Oh my gosh that's so cool! How can you do that!? Can you teach me!? Is that your semblance!? Are you a magical sea-witch? How did you do that!?"

Neo slowly retreated toward Jaune, head spinning from the rapid-fire questions. When she thought she could finally answer, she started signing… only for Ruby to blink a few times, raising an eyebrow at her.

Jaune stepped forward, "She says she's always been able to do that. For the record, Ruby, she's not a sea-witch" Ruby took a breath, "And she's signing with her hands, not summoning any old gods."

Ruby let it go.

Neo mimed giggling, causing Ruby to frown at her. The taller girl scratched her chin, eyes narrowing at the small Neo. Neo stared back, somewhat confused as to what was going on until Ruby finally stepped back.

"Wait… she's not a real assassin, is she?"

The question was directed at Jaune, who only raised an eyebrow at her. Sure, Ruby was right, but how did she find out that quickly? Jaune coughed, "What uh… what makes you think that?"

Ruby pointed at her eye, "She doesn't have that 'look' in her eyes. Even you've got it and you don't kill people for a living… well, most of the time anyway. She looks…"

Ruby frowned, taking a step back as she saw Neo's eyes once again… she knew that look. She knew it far, far too well. She gave Neo a comforting smile, "You're scared, aren't you? A long way from home? Doing something you never thought you'd have to do just to survive?"

Neo's eyes widened as she slowly nodded, taking a step toward Ruby. The taller girl chuckled, "Don't worry —I mean yeah it's scary at first —but sooner or later you'll learn how to take people's lives and not even blink! I mean —just look at me and Yaaa —actually wait you can't, right…" Ruby chuckled, "Sorry, not used to being on a different ship than her yet."

Neo took a step back, frowning at the taller —yet presumably younger —girl. Bubbly, sweet —even heartwarming to some extent. This girl took lives without hesitation? This girl was wanted for murder in Mistral?

Honestly? The sweetness just made her that much scarier.

Jaune decided to end it before it got any worse, stepping between the two, "Hey, Penny? How about you man the wheel while I show Ruby to her cabin, okay?"

Ruby's eyes lit up as she whistled, Zwei barking as he hopped into her arms, "Lead on captain Jaune!"

Jaune rolled his eyes at the little mock salute, leading the girl and her pup into the belly of the ship. Penny took the helm, mostly just keeping them in a straight line.

Neo… took a seat.

She leaned back against the wooden railing, hand almost unconsciously drawing her blade. Her fingers glided across the side, mind recalling the moment it'd first drawn blood… the moment she'd taken her first life.

She tilted the blade back, looking at her reflection in the steel. In the steel, her eyes looked cold. Hardened and deadened by what she'd endured…

"Is this my future?"

Neo sheathed her blade, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the sky. Was she going to end up like that? Able to kill someone one minute and be all happy and bubbly the next? Just able to shrug off murder as 'part of the job'? Was she destined to end up like Ruby and her sister?

She opened her eyes, looking at the group around her. The smiling faces, the jovial expressions… they were criminals, killers —pirates. She knew that… yet it didn't bother her. She was with them now —a member of the crew.

After all, she was a killer too.

If she could speak, she'd have giggled. The brand on her belly —the brand of every corpse that was hung near the castle entrance as a warning to others —the one that marked her as a killer… she'd earned it.

Now she really was guilty.

"'You're just like us: A good person who did bad things to get out of being punished for a bad thing they didn't do.'... that doesn't make it right… does it?" Neo thought, eyes trailing along the wooden deck beneath her. She knew the answer… she'd always known the answer.

"You okay, Neo?"

Said girl looked up, greeted by two bright green eyes just a few inches from her own. She flinched back, head banging against the wooden railing behind her. Penny stepped back, "Oh, sorry! I was just wondering… you looked kind of like Jaune does sometimes when he starts thinking about something."

Neo raised an eyebrow. Penny was happy to elaborate: "Oh yeah! You probably haven't been around long enough to know. Jaune has this habit of trailing off when he's thinking of something. He'll look around, mumble to himself —kinda like you… except he can talk."

"How often does he do that?"

Penny blinked a few times… "I have no idea what that means."

Neo… probably should've seen that coming.