Shoutout to Logan, and anyone else struggling with depression. I've been there too, and that's why I got into writing. I'm here to give you all something to help you forget about everything for a while, and I hope I can help you through it. ❤️

Chapter 4: Unexpected Turns

The first week of class was far more laid back than it usually was. With the number of second year students still recovering, their classes took their time to introduce any big assignments, and combat training started off with a review of fundamentals. By the end of the week most students were back in fighting condition though, and it looked like Monday would get everyone back into the swing of things that they were used to.

That first week seemed off to Neo in a different way to everyone else. There was a lot weighing on her mind after last week, making it hard to focus. Knowing that Cinder was still out there somewhere had her on edge, and the fact that Roman somehow survived their fight was making her question not only herself, but also just what he was capable of. She knew that they were coming for her, and she honestly didn't know what would happen if they met again.

There was a slight comfort to all this with Beo always being there to talk to. Having Beo's voice in the back of her head took a few days to fully adjust to, but by Friday she didn't know how she managed to live without her. Once they found a nice balance of talking back and forth, the results were truly astounding. Beo could tell Neo just about anything she'd ever paid attention to, and was also a second pair of eyes to catch the things she missed on her own. The only trade off was that Beo was never one to hold her tongue if she had an opinion to voice on what was going on outside.

Finally, there was the matter of exactly what was happening to her because of the aura transfer. She was terrified that nothing seemed to have happened yet apart from a little nausea, fatigue, and cramping. She was due to have her period any day now though, so she wrote those symptoms off as it coming on. She tagged along when it was time for Weiss' checkups at the infirmary just to be safe, and the doctors cleared her every time and simply insisted that she was lucky enough to be side effect free. She wanted you believe it, but she was far too paranoid to believe them. That and Beo seemed to know something she didn't.

'Figure it out yet?' Beo asked Sunday afternoon after lunch. Neo was walking back to the dorms with her teammates and team RWBY, heading for the latter's room. 'Ooo I really wanna tell you, but I won't.'

Neo groaned on the inside, 'Oh my God, either tell me already or stop bringing it up! Besides, the doctor says I'm fine.'

'She's wrong,' Beo chuckled. 'You'll figure it out soon enough. Watching you stress out about it is actually kinda fun.'

Neo rolled her eyes and shook her head, catching Weiss' attention. "What's wrong?" the heiress asked.

"It's Beo," Neo sighed. "She keeps telling me that there's something wrong with me because of the donation, but she won't tell me what! Who knew having a voice in your head could get so annoying."

Yang laughed, "You're so messed up it's not even funny. But hey, her nagging you is probably better than her taking over."

"That's an understatement. At least now she can only piss me off instead of all of you guys."

Beo huffed, 'Bite me.'

"So what's the plan for the afternoon?" Mercury asked. "And when's team JNPR getting back?"

Ruby shrugged, "I think they'll be back tonight. I'm up for going somewhere we could all get some energy out. How about laser tag?"

"Not likely," Blake said, waving one of her crutches. Her aura had healed the broken bones already, but her leg was incredibly weak as a result. She'd be on crutches until at least next weekend. "You guys can go if you want. I'm fine hanging back and video chatting with Sun."

Yang gave her partner a concerned look, "You sure? We can do something else if you'd rather. I'd feel bad leaving you behind."

"She wouldn't be alone," Penny chimed in. "I wouldn't go with you. I can see the spectrum of light the beams are on, and it really messes with me. You guys go have fun though!"

"Awww!" Ruby whined. "But then we can't pair off as couples!"

Mercury looked over, "I wouldn't have a partner if we did couples. Guess that means we're paired up if we go."

"Oh, right. Well then we're all set! And we can be a pretend couple for the afternoon!"

Penny giggled, "I want lots of pictures of that."

"That's alright," Mercury chuckled. "Just laser tag partners is enough for me, thanks. No offense, Ruby, but you're not really my type."

"Who is your type then?" Emerald asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Name the hottest person you've seen since you got here."

Mercury shrugged and answered without hesitation, "Scarlet's pretty hot, but he's back at Haven."

"Oh shut up. I was being serious!"

"Me too," Mercury replied, receiving seven perplexed looks in response. "What? Oh, so nobody bats an eye when everyone here but Blake comes out as gay, but when I do it's suddenly a big deal."

Yang grinned, "Well it seemed a little unlikely with your super edgy attitude. But hey, congrats! I hope you know that Em and I are gonna spend every waking moment from here on out trying to set you up with Scarlet. Wait, do we know for sure that he's gay?"

"Yup," Blake instantly replied. "At least according to Sun he is."

"YES!" Emerald cheered. "We are SO making this happen!"

The beginning of the flight into town was spent bickering about how to casually talk to Scarlet, stalking his Rembook page to make sure he was single, and finally having Blake put Sun on speaker phone to talk to him. Not only was Sun on board, but he was equally as excited as everyone else. Meanwhile, Mercury just sat back and let everything happen for him. That changed when Scarlet came into the call, and then a whole new side of the grey-haired boy emerged.

"Sup guys?" Scarlet asked.

"Mercury's got something he wants to talk to you about," Yang grinned. "Go ahead, Merc."

Mercury cleared his throat as his cheeks turned a light pink, surprising everyone with the fact that he did indeed have emotions other than sarcasm. He looked up at the ceiling and started nervously scratching the back of his head, "I uh... I was wondering if you'd wanna meet up next time we're on break. Maybe lunch or a movie, something that's very obviously a date."

"Hell ya!" Scarlet enthusiastically replied. "Sounds top! Sun, you're going up next weekend to see Blake, right? I'll tag along to visit Merc."

"Sounds good to me," Sun chuckled.

Emerald stood up and cheered, "YES! IT'S A DATE!"

"Sit down, Em," Mercury groaned. "Looking forward to seeing you, Scarlet."

Everyone said goodbye and hung up, and all eyes turned to Mercury. He was still blushing and smiling, trying to hide just how excited he was and failing miserably at it. This was the first time the group had seen him this happy, but it came as even more of a shock to Emerald and Neo. They'd both known him for over a decade and couldn't remember the last time he'd been like this.

'I'm glad we helped him out with this,' Neo thought with a smile. 'Scarlet seems like a really cool guy. I'm sure their date will go well.'

'That's same look you had when Weiss said yes,' Beo commented, cementing Neo's hopes.

They got off the airship once it docked and made their way over to Lazer Battleground. It was a very large building with multiple indoor laser tag arenas, an arcade that Ruby insisted on visiting afterwards, and a few fast food restaurants. It was pretty empty since it was a Sunday, so the six of them were ready to suit up after they paid to get in. Neo was less than pleased when the staff told her she'd need to wear a children's harness because of her height, but all that meant was higher motivation to get the friends who laughed. Once they'd taken all of their weapons off and stored them in the lockers they were ready to go.

"Okay, quick rundown of the rules," one of the employees said once everyone was ready. "Hits are only registered on the chest or back. Once you're hit, go back to your base to respawn. Your gun won't work until you do, and you're not worth points until you're alive again. Normally we have a no running policy, but we'll lift it since you're all Huntsmen and Huntresses. Any questions?"

Mercury raised his hand, "Is there friendly fire?"

"No, you can't tag teammates."

"Thank God," Ruby chuckled, giving her teammate an amused glance. "Can we use our semblances or is that a bad idea?"

The employee shrugged, "I'm not gonna say no, but you pay for what you break if you do. If there aren't any other questions you guys can head inside and find your bases. Once the horn sound you can start. First team to fifteen points wins. Good luck!"

Neo and Weiss went to the the blue base, Ruby and Mercury to red, and Emerald and Yang to green. Neo took the time before it started to look at the layout of the arena. It was a bit larger than the sparring arena they used on campus, and filled with a ton of ramps up to a second level of walkways, walks, huge fake boulders, and plenty of other obstacles. The lights were fairly dim and cast a blue light across the open space. Neo grinned and look over at Weiss, "I'm gonna have fun with illusions and teleporting in here."

"And I with glyphs," Weiss chuckled. "Emerald is probably thinking the same way as you though. Watch out for hallucinations."

The horn suddenly sounded, and the two girls took off to find some good cover. They could hear footsteps on the walkway overhead and turned to the ramp coming down to get however it was as they came out. The noise stopped once the person should've came into view though. The girls shared a look, but then Neo realised what it was and grabbed Weiss to teleport them a few feet away. They looked back over to see Emerald shooting at the illusion left behind, and tagged her to score the first point of the game.

"Damn it!" the green-haired girl cursed after realising she'd been counter tricked. "I'll be coming for you, Neo."

"Good," Neo called after her as she ran off to respawn. "Weiss, let's move toward Ruby's base."

The heiress nodded and they ran ahead, keeping their eyes open for people hiding behind cover. Everything seemed clear until a red ball sped past them, and Weiss wasn't able to react in time before Ruby tagged her. Neo jumped back and grabbed onto the path above them and pulled herself up to get out of the line of fire, only to find Mercury waiting for her. She tried to pull her gun up, but Mercury shot her before she could.

"Oh don't look so smug," Neo grumbled at him on her way back to her base.

Five minutes went by, and the six of them were very surprised at how taxing this was. They were all used to a lot of running and acrobatics, but something about this had them using a lot more energy than they were expecting. Neo was sweating and panting pretty hard already, and the round was only half over. She and Weiss stood at seven points, Ruby and Mercury at five, and Emerald and Yang were in the lead with nine.

Neo and Weiss had gotten separated, and now Neo was crouching along the upper walkway in search of anyone. She poked her head up and spied Weiss below her, but also alerted Yang to where she was. The blonde leapt up and started firing wildly, so Neo jumped off and did a shoulder roll to break her fall. She came out of the roll and fell to her hands and knees from a sudden and violent feeling of nausea came over her.

Weiss saw all of this happen and immediately ran to Neo's side, "Neo? Are alright? Guys, stop! Stop!"

The concern in her voice was clear, and everyone rushed over to see what was wrong. Neo hadn't moved, hanging her head down between her shoulders with her eyes closed. The room was spinning, and even staying perfectly still wasn't helping. She tried to hold it in as long as she could but it was just too much. She opened her eyes and tried to take a deep breath, and instead threw up all over the floor. The lights came on then, and some of the employees came in to help get her to the bathroom while she apologised profusely for the mess she'd made.

Weiss guided her into one of the stalls where she threw up twice more, and proceeded to just lay down on the bathroom floor. Looking for her the room had just been cleaned. She stayed there for a minute, panting a bit while the rest of her friends came inside, expect for Mercury. He had to wait outside.

"Are you alright?" Ruby asked, looking extremely concerned.

Neo nodded, "Y-Yeah. Holy fuck, I can't think of the last time I've gotten this sick."

"We should take you home," Weiss said, crouching down and putting her hand on Neo's forehead. "You don't feel warm. Did you eat something that might've gotten you sick?"

"I don't think so, I think it was the flips I did. I don't usually get this sick on my period, but I think that's what it is. I'm due for it anyway."

"When's it supposed to start?" Yang asked.

Neo gingerly sat up gathered herself for a few seconds. She still felt pretty ill, but it was starting to pass. She looked over at Yang and shrugged, "I started my white row two days ago. Why?"

"Just asking. If I'm a day or two late I start to get kinda sick from this stuff too."

"I'm the same way," Emerald added. "Think you're ready to get up? It'd probably be best to get you home and in bed. Yang and I can stop on the way back and get you something to help calm your stomach."

Neo smiled, "Thanks. I should be fine though, it's mostly passed. Either way I agree with going home. I need at least three showers after laying on this floor."

'Still haven't figured it out yet?' Beo asked again on the airship ride back. Neo tried to ignore her this time, just staring ahead and watching the clouds, but Beo didn't give up that easily. 'C'mon, at least take a guess! We can make a game out of it.'

Neo took a deep, calming breath, 'Fine, if it'll make you shut up already. Is it the flu?'

'Not even close! The flu would be a lot easier on you though.'

'Then I give up,' Neo replied. 'I'm really not in the mood for this. If you're not gonna tell me then please just stop.'

Beo sighed, 'You're no fun!'

Neo didn't do much for the rest of the day expect stay in bed. She insisted that she was fine and felt better, but none of her friends were going to listen. They ended up ordering dinner and hung out in team NEMP's room for the evening to make it easier on everyone. Neo didn't eat much since she was having a hard time keeping anything down, but otherwise she had fun.

Team JNPR got back from their quick weekend away, and the night was spent chatting and playing games. Mercury's date with Scarlet was a pretty big topic of discussion, especially since team JNPR hadn't been aware of it. It went on for a while until it was time you get to sleep, much to Mercury's relief.

Neo woke up the next morning feeling a hundred times better than she had, and decided that she was good to go to class. Weiss fought her on it, but Neo managed to convince her that she was alright. That didn't stop the heiress from keeping a close eye on her all morning and waiting for any and every opportunity to try to get her back in bed. Neo made it through their first two lectures without much issue though, and after lunch it was time for a part of class that they were all excited about. Combat training was resuming normal sparring matches.

"Welcome back, everyone," Professor Goodwitch greeted everyone after the bell had rung. They were in the same sparring arena as last year, and the anticipation in the room to get back to fighting as clear. "As you all know, we'll be doing one on one matches today. I went ahead and assigned everyone a partner I think will be appropriate, and randomised the order you'll all be going in. Let's get started with... Pyrrha Nikos versus Neopolitan."

"Be careful," Weiss said as Neo stood up. "If you feel sick, just concede so you don't hurt yourself."

Neo rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say." She and Pyrrha walked down onto the field and stood at opposite ends, waiting for the signal to start.

'You sure you don't wanna take over?' Neo asked.

'Nope, all you,' Beo replied. 'I'll be here to help you out though.'

"Both fighters ready?" Glynda asked once she'd stepped out of the way. "Excellent. Ready... Fight!"

Pyrrha charged in immediately and started with a fairly straightforward set of slashed at Neo. They were both pretty familiar with each other's fighting styles with how many times the two had sparred in the past, so this would almost certainly be decided on who made the biggest mistake that could be easily capitalised on. Neo decided not to retaliate at first and instead gracefully dodged and sidestepped the incoming attacks while she waited for an opening. The only problem was that she was still feeling a little fuzzy from being sick, so it was hard to concentrate on avoiding and searching at the same time.

'Left leg... Now!' Beo commanded, and Neo obeyed without a second thought. She hooked the handle of her umbrella around Pyrrha's heel and tripped her, making Pyrrha roll back and put some distance between them. 'There we go! Just listen to me and we'll be fine.'

Neo nodded to herself and ran over to continue the fight. Now with Beo there to handle the analytical and predictive side of the fight, she was able to devote her full concentration to parrying and throwing in quick counter attacks until Beo gave her the signal to attack. It worked for a while, but Neo's stomach turned out to have other plans on how the fight would go.

Neo did a backflip to avoid Pyrrha's shield as it was thrown at her, then jumped off of it on its return path to get herself high into the air. She defected the shield off her umbrella as it thrown at her again and did three more flips on her way back down. Normally she could do plenty more rotations than that, but not this time. A powerful wave of nausea crashed through her as she spotted the ground and went to to plant her feet. She collapsed backwards when she landed and got up in her hands and knees, then got sick on the ground the same way she had during laser tag.

"Hold, hold!" Professor Goodwitch called out to Pyrrha as she came over to Neo's side. "Neo, are you alright?"

"She's been sick, but didn't want to stay home," Pyrrha answered for her friend. "She threw up the other day when we all went out to play laser tag."

Neo nodded, still propping herself up on one arm while the other clutched her stomach, "I'm sorry... I thought I was okay to come."

"No need to apologise," Glynda replied, helping Neo to her feet. "You should get some rest though. Miss Nikos, would you mind walking her back to the dorms? I'll need a moment here to get someone to clean the ring."

Pyrrha agreed and started asking alongside Neo out of the arena. Neo turned to the rest of their friends in the stands and gave a thumbs up, giving them a bit of relief that she was okay. She got back to her room and went straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and rinse her mouth out, then flopped into bed as Pyrrha returned to class. She fell asleep for some unknown amount of time, and woke up to the sound of the door to the room opening. She lazily rolled over to see who it was, and got a smile on her face when she saw it was Weiss.

"Hey," the heiress somewhat flatly greeted her. "I got you some salted crackers and Ginger Ale to help your stomach."

Neo's smile widened, "Thank you. So how'd class go?"

"Fine," Weiss sighed. She walked over and handed Neo the bag of food and before going over to the window. She didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, just blankly staring outside.

"Is everything okay? I know that I'm sick, but I don't I'm contagious enough to warrant keeping your distance. Besides, we kissed this morning, so you've got whatever I've got."

The heiress shook her head and turned her gaze down to the floor, looking almost ready to cry, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" Neo asked, sitting up with a look of concern. "Weiss?"

"It's about us... and our engagement... It's been on my mind a lot since the initiation incident. I didn't really want to bring it up now since you've been sick, but I can't hold it in much longer. First of all, I want you to know that I care about you so, so much. I love you more than I ever thought possible, and... it really scares me. The fact that I agreed to marry you after only two months together... I feel like it was all because of the circumstances, and that I wouldn't have said yes otherwise. I'm starting to think that I'm not ready..."

Neo looked devastated, "A-Are...? Are you calling off the engagement? You're not-?"

"I'm not breaking up with you," Weiss firmly stated. She sat down on Neo's bed and brought her into a hug, squeezing tightly. "That's not what I'm saying. I just feel like we've moved too quickly. I need to know, would you have proposed if you hadn't thought we were going to die?"

"Well... No," Neo replied, shaking her head. " You're right, it had a lot to do with what was happening. But that wasn't the only reason. I do love you, enough to get married one day."

"I feel the same way, but we're both clearly thinking about it in future tense, not present. And I'm not saying I want to call of the engagement, I just wish it would've happened at a different time."

Neo smiled, starting to understand what Weiss wanted, "Well, maybe we could take a step back and let it happen again later. We could say these rings are something else instead."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"What if instead of engagement rings, we made them promise rings? We'd go back to being girlfriends, so I guess technically ending the engagement, but still having the promise that we'll get married someday. Then, once we're both ready, one of us can propose when we're not about to die."

"I don't think there's a technicality there," Weiss chuckled. "It'd definitely be calling off the engagement, but I think that's a really good idea. Are you sure you're okay with all this?"

Neo nodded, "Of course." She reached out and slid Weiss' ring off, then took her own and handed it over. "I hereby call off our previous engagement, or whatever you say to do that. Now, Weiss Schnee, will you take this ring as a promise to stay together faithfully until we're ready to take the next step?"

"I will," the heiress smiled. "Will you take this ring to do the same?"

"I will," Neo smiled back. They put the rings back on and shared another hug and a long kiss.

Weiss' eyes grew wide and she immediately jumped off the bed, "Shit! I shouldn't be kissing you! You had better not get me sick too!"

"Oh relax, you'll be fine. Didn't you hear what I said when you got here? We already kissed this morning. Now go, get to class. I'm gonna get some sleep and hopefully feel well enough to join everyone for dinner."

Weiss smiled and gave Neo one more hug before heading back out. Neo lay back into her pillows and let out a deep sigh, not entirely sure how to feel right now.

'Well that was unexpected,' Beo said in surprise.

Neo nodded, 'You can say that again. What're your thoughts on it? You already heard mine.'

'I think it's gonna make things a little harder in the future, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I think it's fair to wanna take a step back and have a semi-normal relationship.'

'Why would it be hard?' Neo asked. 'We can get re-engaged at any point once we're both ready. What would change to make it hard?'

Beo chuckled, 'You'll figure it out pretty soon. Maybe next chapter or so.'

'Next chapter? What the fuck are you talking about?'

'Nothing, nothing,' Beo laughed. 'Talk to ya later, hun.'

Neo rolled her eyes and readjusted herself under the covers, and fell back asleep within a few minutes. She woke up to a violent rumbling in her stomach, and looked at the clock to see that it was almost six o'clock.

'Okay, I need to get some food,' she thought as she jumped out of bed and changed into sweatpants and a tank top. 'Everyone should still be in the dining hall, so I'll just show up and surprise them.'

She grabbed her purse and ran out of the room with the savage growling in her stomach dictating her speed. She arrived at the dining hall in record time and went to work loading her tray with anything and everything that looked good to her, and even a couple combinations of things that only made sense in her head. She played it off nonchalantly when she sat down with all of her friends, but their immediate fascination was with her appetite.

"Holy crap, Neo," Jaune said in amazement. "I haven't seen you eat this much since I met you."

Neo smiled, "And just like then, I haven't eaten in two days. Although this time it's from being sick instead of homeless in the streets."

"Yeah, but everything you had on your tray that day was pretty normal. What you've got now is... odd to say the least. Wait, are those pickles in your ice cream?"

Yang smirked, "Well I'm just glad you're feeling better. Although, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were pregnant with the way you're eating."

"Yup, you figured it out," Neo sarcastically replied. "Weiss knocked me up. She wears that combat skirt to hide her penis."

Weiss huffed, "Hey! Where did that come from?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. I love you! Please don't leave me!"

"On that note, can help me understand the thing with your engagement?" Yang asked. She wasn't the only one thinking it, but nobody else really wanted to bring it up in case it was a sensitive topic. "Weiss told us about it, but I'm still a little confused. Sorry to bring it up if it's not a great topic."

Neo shrugged, "Nah, you're fine. Weiss and I decided to make these be promise rings instead of engagement rings. So we're back to girlfriends, not fiancees."

"And you're okay that?" Pyrrha asked. "Not that you shouldn't be, I just want to make sure you're both alright."

"Of course. I'll be the first to admit that I proposed when I did cuz I was sure we were gonna die. It was definitely rushed, so we're just taking a step back. Nothing's changed except for losing the 'But I'm her fiancee!' card. I'll wait to propose again until we're closer to graduating, and make it a hell of a lot more romantic. Or Weiss can if she beats me to it. And yes, you're all still bridesmaids and bridesmen."

"YES!" Nora exclaimed, throwing her arms up. "Just so you know, we're not gonna stop planning your wedding."

All the talk about relationships and weddings brought a lot of smiles across the table. There was only one person who didn't seem excited by it, and Ruby picked up on it pretty quickly. "Everything okay, Penny?" the caped girl asked. "You look kinda down."

Penny sighed, "Not really. Ruby, can I talk to you about our relationship?"

"Of course!" Ruby enthusiastically answered, but then realised it wasn't in a way that she should be excited about.

"I've been thinking about what exactly there is to gain out is a romantic relationship between us. As much as we both like the idea, there's a huge problem with it... I'm an artificial being, and I don't know if I have the capacity to have the sort of feelings that are associated with this. I don't know if I can really feel love or attraction, and-"

"Penny, look at me," Ruby interrupted, and Penny did as she was told. "I want you to tell me what goes through your head when you look at me. Are you attracted to me?"

"Well... yes," Penny replied. "I think you're very pretty, and smart, and funny, but what if these aren't real feelings? What if it's just my programming? I know I can project and aura, but that doesn't mean I can think and feel like you do. I'm not a real girl..."

Ruby smiled, "You're real to me. I don't care if you're a human, a Faunus, a robot, an alien, or whatever! I like you for you. And who's to say your feelings are any different than mine? Just because you're made of metal and I'm made of squishy red stuff doesn't mean we can't both have feelings for each other."

Penny couldn't muster a response other than to pull Ruby into a tight hug. She buried her head into the girl's shoulder as if she were about to cry, "Thank you, Ruby. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Awww!" came simultaneously from everyone else at the table as they watched the display.

"You're real to all of us," Neo added. "We'll be here for you like we would be for anyone else, right guys?"

Everyone at the table nodded except for Emerald. Not out of disagreement, instead her eyes were fixed on her scroll with a look of pure fear.

Mercury tapped her on the shoulder, "Em? You okay?"

"N-no..." the green-haired girl stammered, turning her scroll to let everyone see the message on it. "It's... It's from Cinder..."

Did Beo just break the fourth wall to give some foreshadowing? Yup! Did I do it because I'm really excited about the new Dreadpool movie? Also yes! xD Hope you guys liked the chapter, and I'll see you all next time! Also, only one person has technically guessed correctly as to what Neo's side effect is. If you'd like, leave your guess in a review or a PM! I love reading them. (:

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