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Neo never really liked or trusted Cinder. How could she when their alliance came about more out of a hate of Ruby than any sort of friendship? Not to mention just how self-absorbed Cinder constantly was, or the way that even after promising Neo Red, she seemed entirely uninterested in repaying her side of the deal.
Yet, somehow, after all of that, just when Cinder, for the first time in her life, actually did something useful and gave Neo a chance at Red. She, rather than just killing Red and helping Neo up, kicked them both off the edge to fall into nothingness.
It's surprising how much that hurts. Neo's never liked Cinder, never trusted her, and most certainly never saw her as even worthy of licking Roman's boots, yet somehow, it still feels devastating when Cinder knocks Neo off the platform and to her death.
She spends her time falling, trying to kill Red. Even if this is the end, choking the life out of the person who killed Roman does feel like a good way to go out.
Except that she doesn't die. Red kicks her off, and then, rather than the abyss or an afterlife, Neo finds herself landing and getting up.
Before long, after taking in the fact that she is, in fact, still breathing, something occurs to Neo. If she's still alive, then Red must be too. That at least makes what she has to do next simple.
It doesn't matter if this is the afterlife, some alternate dimension or something else entirely; Roman's death can still be avenged, and that is the only thing that matters.
While she walks to try to get her bearings, Neo tests out her semblance. Whatever this place is, it doesn't look like anywhere in Remnant she's ever heard of, so it only makes sense to test that things still work as they should.
That is when Neo gets a pleasant surprise, because things don't work as they should; her semblance works even better. Her illusions are solid, not just glass anymore, but something she can imbue with sensation, solidity, and most curiously, sound.
Before Neo can truly consider what that means for her, she spots a blur of red falling in the distance, and whatever thoughts Neo was having about her semblance evaporate, because while it's possible that this place just has people falling from the sky as a regular occurrence, Neo's willing to bet that bit of red is just the thing she's looking for.
Neo considers thanking the gods as she manages to follow where Red fell and comes across her unconscious body. For a second, she considers all the fun she could have with that. Red isn't dead; the fact she's still breathing proves that. In fact, Neo's willing to bet she'll wake up soon, what with the fact her aura already seems to be regenerating.
Weaponless, friendless, vulnerable Red. It would be so easy to go up there and start carving into her. Cutting her helpless form to pieces and enjoying every single scream and cry to come out of her mouth.
But before Neo lets her enthusiasm get the better of her, she finds herself pausing.
Is that it?
After all this, she just goes up to Red and tortures her to death? Isn't that just so mundane? It would be satisfying, of course, but it's just pain, isn't it? It wouldn't really be paying her back for Roman's death, because it wouldn't destroy Red.
Can Neo really be satisfied with just physically hurting and killing her? Is that all her ambitions amount to?
Surely she can do better than that?
So, as Red very slowly returns to consciousness, Neo thinks and remembers the first thought she had when falling.
Betrayal hurts.
It was devastating when someone whom Neo had trusted, even the slightest bit, discarded her without so much as a second thought.
So, if it hurt that much for Neo, how much would that hurt Red? How much would having a person she loves and trusts unconditionally destroy her bit-by-bit hurt?
Before, that would be easier said than done, but Neo's been given a gift. One that is useful for a lot of things, but utterly sublime for this one purpose.
She can make people, and she can mimic sounds.
There does come a question of who to copy. It can't be Red's sister or cat ears. Both of them were knocked down, too. Maybe the Schnee heiress? Except Neo doesn't know enough about her, and it's possible that Cinder knocked her down later.
Eventually, however, the perfect candidate comes up.
Penny.
The poor machine given a soul. One who thanks to Jinn, Neo knows just gained a human body, and who, last Neo saw of her, was fighting a losing battle against Cinder.
Most importantly, however, she is someone whom Red adores, and Penny clearly adored Red back.
Finally, there is nearly no chance of her falling, as her maiden abilities let her fly.
Of course, mimicking those is easier said than done, but that's an easy fix. Neo knows Cinder intended to drain the maiden power out of Penny's soul, so Neo can just pretend Cinder got most of it before dropping Penny to what she thought was her death.
It takes a moment to get the voice right, and a few more to decide if she wants to put the illusion of Penny over herself or just make a clone of her. In the end, however, even if using her illusion to speak will be weird, there is only one choice.
When Neo breaks Red, she wants to be able to look her in the eye.
"Salutations!", "You're my best friend, Ruby", "Please die for me"
There it is.
Penny's body smiles.
______________________________________________________________
Ruby wakes up with a jolt. Quickly sitting up from the sand(?) that she was lying in.
The memories come back slowly at first, then startlingly fast.
Ruby failed.
The plan didn't work; they were ambushed, Yang died to save her, and Blake died trying to do the same thing.
But, shouldn't she also be dead? She was falling, fighting Neo and then... She woke up?
But if she's still here, could Yang and Blake also be ok?
It's that thought that lets Ruby get up; her hand instinctively going to check Cresent Rose. But there is nothing there; it fell before her. Cresent Rose is gone.
Ruby puts mourning her weapon to the side and instead looks around. She's on a beach, with forest right ahead of her, and a giant tree in the distance.
For a moment, she hesitates, but the beach isn't that large, and the only other place Ruby can see is the forest ahead of her, so if she wants to find her friends, if Yang and Blake are really here, that is where she has to go.
Before she gets very far, however, she hears a voice from the forest.
"Ruby? Ruby!" It's a voice that's more than familiar, and one that catches her entirely off guard.
"Penny?" Ruby looks around, and stepping out from the treeline is Penny, looking absolutely delighted to see her.
For a moment, her mind goes to Neo, who was strangling Ruby using Penny's form when they were falling, but she dismisses the thought as soon as it comes up. Penny spoke, Neo can't do that, so that means it really is her. It really is Penny.
Before Ruby can sort out exactly what she feels about seeing Penny here, and what that means for the plan, she finds herself in a rib crushing hug. Though thankfully, with Penny now human rather than mechanical, it doesn't actually damage Ruby's aura like those used to.
After a moment of stunned disbelief, Ruby returns the hug with just as much enthusiasm. It's not quite the same as hugging Penny when she was mechanical, but the warmth of her skin and the enthusiasm of it are still so perfectly Penny.
"Penny, you're here" Despite the fact that is a clear bad thing, something that means that Ruby failed to an even greater extent than she thought, she can't help but feel relieved. Because she isn't alone, her friend is here with her.
"And you are too! I was so worried when I saw you fall, but you're ok! I'm so glad"
The joy of seeing Penny soon wears off however, because Ruby can't help but consider the implications of her falling too.
"Penny, what happened after I fell?" Ruby almost want's to just not ask, to ignore the horrifying implications of Penny having fallen and just continue to burrow into the hug, but she can't. She needs to know.
At that, Penny sighs, before reluctantly stepping away, looking down at the sand, unwilling to meet Ruby's eyes.
"I fought Cinder," Penny admits.
"And then?" Ruby cannot help but fill in the gaps even before Penny next speaks. Because if she was fighting Cinder, and now is here, then there can only be one way that ended.
"I... She..." Penny shivers before letting out a shuddering breath and continuing, "She trapped me, and that grim thing in her arm tore winter out of me. I cut it off and fell in the end, but she has most of it," Penny admits, still looking down at the sand.
One of her eyes briefly flickers with fire, but it's barely a flame so much as a spark that near instantly goes out.
"Oh," Then Cinder has two Maiden powers, the Lamp and the Staff.
That's apocalyptic. If Cinder has all of those, and with Atlus gone, what can stop Salem?
Vacuo isn't a safe haven; it's a stay of execution.
Ruby's planning really has doomed them all. Amity fell from the sky, Ironwood turned on them, Atlus fell, and Salem has achieved all of her objectives.
Remnant is doomed.
Ruby's plan killed it.
"Ruby?" Penny's voice breaks Ruby out of her thoughts.
"I ruined it. We lost everything because of me. I risked everything, and now Salem has won, and I achieved nothing," Ruby admits, the consequences of her failures finally sinking in. Resignation slowly sweeping away those last flickers of hope she was holding onto.
"You saved me, didn't you? If you hadn't taken that risk, I would still be stuck as a machine forced to self-terminate. But you used the staff and actually thought of something that could let me live! That's amazing, Ruby. I owe you so, so much. So please, don't blame yourself for everything," Penny retorts.
"I did, didn't I?" There is something warming about that. Even with everything that went wrong, with everything that was lost because of Ruby. Her actions saved Penny; that is something to hold on to. Maybe the only thing Ruby has left to hold onto.
"Yep, you did! That was sensational, even if the things after that... Weren't. But still, we can still find a way back and save everyone! Even if things seem dark now. Can't we, friend Ruby?"
Can Ruby save everyone? It doesn't feel like it, but if Penny believes in her, then she has to, doesn't she? She can't give up here.
Ruby takes Penny's hand "We will," And maybe, one day, she will actually believe it.
For a moment, something about Penny's smile seems to flicker, an almost mocking bent to it, but when Ruby blinks, it's just as warm as always.
Ruby disregards it. If she is even imagining Penny might be anything but trustworthy, then she must be losing it. Penny is someone Ruby can trust entirely.
Maybe with her here, this won't be so bad.