A/N:

To reviewer "Umbrardor": How I'm portraying Neo is a mix of what I've observed of her so far from the little screentime she's had and a personal spin off a few headcanons for her personality that I've seen. The latter I'm trying to keep somewhat subtle at first, to which I hope to bring more out of as Neo develops through the fic. But yes, she will have her sadistic spurts at times. As for your question, the best answer I can give atm is to stick around and find out.

To reviewer "patrick the almighty observer": Once again, stick around and find out. :P

Night time had fallen upon Beacon Academy once more. It was relatively quiet and peaceful, save for the occasional engine roar of an airship in the distance as it flew to and from. Not many students were out and about on outdoor campus grounds at this hour, many sticking to their indoor tasks away from the gaze of the shattered moon above.

Team CNEM on one hand was on their way towards the cafeteria building.

"I'm starving." Mercury said, putting sarcastic emphasis on the 'starving' part as he broke the silence save for their footsteps against the stone path.

"Yes, Mercury." Emerald deadpanned, her annoyance apparent in her voice. She didn't even bother to look in his direction. "Thanks for reminding us again. Not like you did that five minutes ago or anything." Her tone became more of a sarcastic one at that point.

Mercury gave a scoff, one almost cocky in nature. "What? You counting the minutes since you've last heard my sweet, sweet voice?" He asked, a smug grin on his face as he sped up pace a bit so he was in Emerald's line of sight.

In response, Emerald shot him a glare. Their banter continued as Cinder paid them relatively no mind. Instead she was set on her path in silence. She looked as if almost in thought.

Neo rolled her eyes. Emerald and Mercury's banter was plain laughable at times, such as now. She was walking with the three, albeit more off to the side from them. She didn't like the idea of being too clustered together with them right now.

It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination. With one solid push Cinder opened the double doors leading into the cafeteria building. They were greeted with the sight of... well, not much. The place was relatively quiet and empty except for the few clusters of people sitting together scattered about.

Funny. Neo expected this place to be a bit more lively.

"Looks like we'll be getting plenty of leg room." Mercury mused, his eyes scanning the room as the students already situated there paid them no mind.

"Come on." Cinder spoke next, mildly surprising Neo with her sudden words. Shaking it off, Neo followed Cinder and the other two to where the food was being served. It didn't take very long for them to get their meals on their trays before they were faced with finding their spots to sit. That didn't take very long either, as they were soon seated at a vacant table.

Neo looked down at her tray of food sitting on the table before her. Mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and peas, some chicken...

It would do.

Being mindful of her manners, Neo began to dig in. Her legs swayed back and forth under the table, her shoes unfortunately not quite touching the ground. Once again she drowned out the others in her team, not interested in what they had to say.

What did catch her interest however, was the fact that Ruby girl appeared to be sitting with three other individuals at another table within earshot of her's.

She gave them a glance; just a quick one. She wasn't sure if they had noticed her or the other three.

Mentally shrugging it off, she returned to her food. She kept listening in though, picking up bits and pieces from their conversation. It was when she was about half way done with her food when she realized that, at this point, they had noticed her.

And were talking about her.

"You mean the girl you were talking about?" Neo heard the girl with yellow hair say.

"Yep..." The red cloaked girl she knew as Ruby responded, briefly glancing in her direction before realizing Neo was now looking in her direction. Panicking a little bit, Ruby returned her gaze to the blonde. "I think she noticed us." She whispered.

The blonde looked between Ruby and the girl she had spoken of a few times as Neo pretended not to care about what they spoke of. Suddenly the girl with lilac eyes stood up, surprising Ruby and another girl with white hair.

"What are you planning?" The girl in white asked, sounding somewhat concerned- probably for her own well being, Neo suspected.

"She's probably just shy." The blonde replied with an almost matter of fact tone. "Kinda like Blakey here." She made a point by gesturing to the girl sitting next to her, whom had a bow atop her head and her face buried in the pages of a book. Said girl with a bow glanced up from her novel, looking rather out of it. "What?"

"Anyways." The blonde continued, not responding to the darker haired girl. "Come on Rubes, we're gonna go break the ice," She paused and winked at the girl in white, earning herself a facepalm from her before she continued. "And welcome her and her friends to Beacon!"

"Wait, wha-?!" Ruby barely had a chance to protest on the matter before the taller girl was practically dragging her over to their table.

Oh joy.

Neo looked to her side at Mercury, Emerald and Cinder to see how long it would take them to notice that two girls were headed their way. Emerald and Mercury fell silent relatively quickly upon noticing the duo and Cinder turned her head slightly to watch them approach.

Neo watched the blonde drag Ruby over, a confident grin etched on her face. "Hello!" The girl greeted.

"Hey." Mercury nonchalantly returned the greeting. Emerald shot Cinder a glance, an almost hesitant one in nature, before also returning the greeting. "Hi."

Cinder seemed to have acknowledged Emerald's hesitant glance. She nodded to the two, eyeing them. "Hello."

Neo didn't bother with any sort of introduction. Instead she had her eye on Ruby, who shot her a sheepish and awkward smile. As if silently saying "this wasn't my idea".

Sensing a pair of eyes on her, Neo turned her attention to the blonde. "My names Yang!" She introduced in what appeared to be her regular perky manner. "And I think you and my lil' sister have met." She promptly let Ruby's arm go from her grip. "But you left before she could get your name, yeah?" She asked, looking between the two people in question a few times. She didn't sound angry or demanding, but instead encouraging. Nudging for a proper introduction between the two.

Neo pursed her lips at the blonde. Did they really want her to introduce herself?

An awkward silence began to set in. Yang gazed at Neo expectantly, the moments of silence passing telling her that she wasn't going to respond. Her bright, cheery smile faltered a bit and she looked to her side at Ruby.

"Uhh... Well," Ruby rubbed the back of her neck nervously, digging the ball of her foot into the floor a bit. "You don't have to tell us if-"

"Her name is Neo." Cinder spoke up finally, spilling the silent girl's name at last. Ruby's face lit up, happy to have at least learned her name. Neo's eyes widened in surprise, causing her to turn her head to look at her with an almost accusing frown.

Great job, Cinder.

"Really?" Ruby questioned, new found curiosity in her voice now. "Kinda like that cool scifi movie chara-"

"Neopolitan." Mercury cut the younger girl off, leaning back in his seat somewhat. "Her name is Neopolitan. Neo just easier to say, don't you think?" He questioned, a certain amount of sarcasm dripping from his words.

Yang shook her head, putting her palm to her face in response to Ruby's antics. Quite frankly, Neo felt like doing the same.

"Right." Ruby mumbled under her breath, trying to recover from her "duh!" moment.

"Well, Neo is a pretty cool name." Yang chimed in, her warm smile reappearing. Neo rolled her eyes in response, suspecting she was attempting to make a pun out of her namesake.

Ruby giggled, nodding in agreement with her sister. "Yeah. Where are you guys from?"

"We're from Haven." Emerald answered, speaking for the first time in the conversation.

"Great!" Ruby grinned. The conversation was becoming much smoother now. "My partner is from Atlas." She said, her voice promptly becoming quieter. "Her name is Weiss."

As if on cue, Neo heard a "What?" in a feminine voice come from the direction Ruby and Yang's table was in.

A girl named Weiss from Atlas. Funny. Neo had a sneaking suspicion who it was.

"Interesting." Cinder replied, sounding like she was making at least some attempt to sound interested.

Emerald looked to Cinder. "Wow, Cinder, would you look at the time. I think we better head back." She said as she stood up. She kept her voice casual, but Neo could tell she was trying to break them away from the two.

"Sleep calls." Mercury told Ruby and Yang with a shrug, beginning to stand up. Neo nodded in agreement, doing the same.

"Indeed." Cinder stood up, pushing her tray away from herself slightly.

"Oh, right." Ruby chuckled lightly in an awkward manner.

"You guys get classes tomorrow, right?" Yang asked the four.

"Yep." Mercury replied simply, already beginning to walk away towards the cafeteria room exit. Finally. Neo followed after, giving the two a brief wave of her hand as a goodbye.

"Perhaps we'll see you around." Cinder told the sisters as she and Emerald followed after Mercury and Neo.

Yang gave them a wave. "Definitely!"

Ruby did the same. "Yeah, guess we'll see you around!"

The four exited the cafeteria building, and once they were all out, Emerald let the door close behind them. Once more they were outside in the dim light, the shattered moon shining down upon them.

"Rather nosey, aren't they?" Emerald commented as Cinder led them back towards the dormitories.

"Very." Cinder replied, sounding somewhat indifferent to the matter.

Neo had a feeling she'd be seeing them quite a bit during her time here.

Neo rolled over on her bed, now laying on her side facing the wall. She was dressed in her sleeping clothes, mainly consisting of an oversized light pink t-shirt and brown short-shorts. It was close to midnight now, Neo figured. The curtains were closed, allowing only a crack of moonlight to peer into the room. Neo thought Cinder, Emerald and Mercury to be asleep, but she couldn't be bothered to check or care that much.

Letting out a quiet huff of discontent, Neo rolled over again so she was laying on her back. Peering up at the white ceiling with her mismatched eyes, Neo began to contemplate for a reason why she was feeling so... wrong.

She stayed there without moving for what seemed like minutes, until a sudden muffled buzzing sound broke the silence and her train of thought.

There it was.

A smile forming on her lips, Neo sat up and reached back to feel under her pillow. Locating her scroll, Neo slipped it out and opened it. The scroll lit up, causing Neo to look away momentarily to avoid practically blinding herself with the sudden brightness. It took a few seconds, but her eyes quickly adjusted to the light. Looking back at her screen, she opened up the messaging window which was the source of the buzz.

Roman (Dad): Evening Neo. You awake?

Neo began typing back a response, her fingers moving swiftly across the screen. Neo always saw Roman as a fatherly type figure and fondly referred to him as so when it was just the two of them. After all, he was there to help her through tough times when her biological parents failed to be there.

Me: Of course.

It wasn't like many knew of it, however. Not even Cinder, Neo was certain. She chose not to express it with others around in public. After all, a relationship like that could be used and exploited as a weakness.

Roman (Dad): Good to hear. Hows that school of yours? Didn't get yourself into trouble without me yet did ya?

Rolling her eyes, Neo typed another response.

Me: It's interesting. There's a lot of people here. Some more interesting then others.

Me: Are you implying I would get into trouble on the first day of school? Preposterous.

Neo laid herself back down on her back, holding her scroll up above her so she could still see and use it.

Roman (Dad): I've known you long enough to say otherwise. If you see that Red gal, be sure to give her a solid whack on the back of the head for me would ya?

Noted.

Me: Will do. ;)

Me: How's that Atlessian thing going, hm?

Roman (Dad): My supplier is working on it, but the rats in the white fang are starting to get impatient. If only they knew the crap I had to go through to find the damn guy.

Roman (Dad): Speaking of that, think you'll be able to slip away one of these nights for the grand unveiling?

Me: Easily. Let me know when and I'll do it.

Roman (Dad): That's the girl I know.

Roman (Dad): I've got one more shop to hit tonight. I'll talk to ya later Neo.

Me: Try not to get yourself killed, will you?

Roman (Dad): Since when was there a chance of that eh?

Roman (Dad): Goodnight Neo.

Me: Good night, _

Neo hesitated for a moment, looking up from the brightness of her screen and instead towards the bed which Cinder rest on. Shaking the feeling of uncertainty off, Neo finished and sent the message.

Me: Good night, Dad.

A/N: Wow, would you look at that. A chapter that's roughly standard length for once!

I was faced with figuring out how I wanted to portray Roman and Neo's relationship. It was either lover, close friend or a fatherly figure of sorts. It's pretty obvious which route I went with. And who knows, maybe I delve deeper into their father-daughter relationship at one point. Would that be something you guys, my readers, would be interested in seeing farther down the line?

FULL COVER IMAGE CREDIT TO いえすぱ ON PIXIV ( member_ ?mode=medium&illust_id=46300044 )